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7,406 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: neuronal migration disorders are diseases that develop due to disruption of normal movement of postmitotic neurons from the ventricular zone to the cortical plate during embryogenesis that result in the total or subtotal absence of cortical sulci and severely disturbed architecture of the cortical plate . however , the location of these neurons along their migratory route and its severity , which also forms the basis of classification of these anomalies , depends on the pathological mechanism of the disorder .
these disorders have been discussed classically under umbrella of lissencephaly , which means smooth brain . in agyria , there is absence of deep sulci in more than one lobe and the thickness of the cortex is 1020 mm , whereas in pachygyria sulci are present but are wider than in the normal cortex .
in addition , the affected cerebral cortex has only four developed layers instead of the normal six layers .
pachygyria is currently considered a subtype of lissencephaly spectrum of disorders which ranges from classical lissencephaly ( agyria or pachygyria ) , in which microscopic examination reveals total disorganization of the cortex and absence of any distinguishable layers to subcortical band heterotopia or double - cortex syndrome .
although exact incidence of this disorder is not known , the incidence of all forms of type i lissencephaly is estimated to be 1 in 100,000 births .
clinical presentation may be varied including microcephaly or normal head circumference , facial dysmorphism including esotropia and/or exotropia , telecanthus , seizures , mental retardation , and hypotonia with or without pyramidal and cerebellar signs
. mutations of several genes such as lis1 and dcx have been reported in neuronal migration disorders . historically , neuronal migration disorders have been classified based on a postmortem examination ; however , mainstay of diagnosis and classification of these disorders is currently based on magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) of the brain
. thus , knowledge of typical... | pachygyria is considered a subtype of lissencephaly which , in turn , is a spectrum of disorders caused by abnormal neuronal migration . clinical presentation in this disorder may be varied including microcephaly , developmental delay , facial dysmorphism , seizures , and mental retardation .
magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) of brain identifies the exact nature and extent of the disease and helps in delineating further plan of management .
a tigroid pattern on axial mri scan and leopard pattern on a sagittal plane has been classically reported in disorders of myelin formation such as metachromatic leukodystrophy and pelizaeus merzbacher disease .
we present here a case of pachygyria who presented to us with some atypical features including
tigroid - like stripes and leopard - like pattern on mri brain which has not been reported in the medical literature previously . |
7,407 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the 20 century witnessed a myriad of advances in technology , which have found several applications in the field of medicine .
video technology was one of the most important factors that enhanced the ability of surgeons to perform complex laparoscopic surgeries .
the advantages of laparoscopy were realized in adult surgeries long before its acceptance in pediatric surgery .
the reasons for initial non - acceptance included lack of suitable equipment for the pediatric patient , uncommon need for cholecystectomy and perhaps the traditionally smaller incisions in pediatric patients making the cosmetic benefit of laparoscopy less evident .
currently , laparoscopy can now be performed in infants weighing less than 1.5 kg without significant mortality or morbidity .
the advent of minimal access technique of laparoscopy marked a new dawn in surgical care of patients .
video - laparoscopy allows surgical assistants ; anesthesiologists and nurses to view what the surgeon is doing and to actively participate in the procedure in their respective roles .
the other benefits of laparoscopy include less post - operative pain , post - operative morbidity , early recovery and return to normal activity with shorter hospital stay .
the cosmetic advantage has played a major role in the acceptance of this type of surgery amongst patients .
a developing country like nigeria with a lean health budget and an unresolved primary communicable disease challenge has been slow in joining the trend .
there is still a palpable skepticism even among surgeons of the feasibility and relevance of laparoscopy in our environment .
albeit pioneering efforts are documented from some parts of the country highlighting the feasibility of this minimal access practice despite immense challenges with a clarion emphasis on local adaptations . to the best of our knowledge ,
this is the first documented study from the niger delta region to evaluate laparoscopy as a useful tool for management of common surgical abdominal conditions in a developing country... | background : video - laparoscopic surgery has long been practiced in western countries ; however documented practice of this minimal access surgical technique are recently emanating from nigeria . to the best of our knowledge ,
this is the first documented study on laparoscopic surgery from the niger delta region.aim:to evaluate the feasibility of laparoscopy as a useful tool for management of common surgical abdominal conditions in our environment.patients and methods : this was a prospective outcome study of all consecutive surgical patients who had laparoscopic procedures in general and pediatric surgery units of our institution from august 2011 to december 2012 .
data on patient 's age , gender , indication for surgery , duration of hospital stay and outcome of surgery were collected and analyzed.results:a total of 15 laparoscopic procedures were performed during this study period with age range of 2 - 65 years ; mean : 32.27 17.86 years .
there were 11 males and four females .
six laparoscopic appendicectomies , one laparoscopy - assisted orchidopexy , five diagnostic laparoscopy biopsy , one laparoscopic trans - abdominal pre - peritoneal herniorrhaphy for bilateral indirect inguinal hernia and two laparoscopic adhesiolysis for small bowel obstruction were performed .
all were successfully completed except one conversion ( 6.7% ) for uncontrollable bleeding in an intra - abdominal tumor.conclusion:the practice of laparoscopic surgery in our environment is feasible and safe despite the numerous , but surmountable challenges .
there is the need for adequate training of the support staff and a dedicated theatre suite . |
7,408 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: copd is a common cause of disability , morbidity , and mortality worldwide and a major global health problem with enormous direct and indirect health care costs.1,2 the worst notice , however , is that the mortality rate ( number of deaths per 100,000 persons ) for copd in the last 50 years ( at least in usa ) has progressively increased in both men and women older than 60 years in every 5-year period.3 moreover , among the 20 leading causes of deaths in usa , the only one that has substantially increased the age - standardized relative rank of death in the last 20 years is copd.4 in europe , the situation seems better , and in many european countries , the mortality rate ( number of deaths for 100,000 persons ) for copd is decreasing , particularly in men.5 however , for 100,000 deaths , the percentage of mortality due to copd is increasing , suggesting that among chronic noncommunicable diseases copd is less effectively treated.5 therefore , according to this trend , it is estimated that copd will become the third worldwide cause of mortality in 2030.6 of course , there are many causes for this , but among them the possibility that the recommended diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to copd were less effective than what they could be should be seriously considered .
the most disseminated definition says that copd is a disease.1 in fact , d in the copd acronym stands for disease .
it must be acknowledged , however , that copd is recognized in the definition as an obstructive functional defect associated with a chronic immune inflammatory process , occurring in the lungs of susceptible individuals with known risk factors , in the absence of other causes .
since the 1960s , based on pathological findings , it has been clear that similar functional disorder could arise from different diseases , essentially two , one originating from small airways and the other from lung parenchyma.7 today , we know that chronic bronchiolitis , which is a progressive , proliferative , and fibrosing pathology of the membranous... | copd is a common cause of disability , morbidity and mortality worldwide and a major global health problem with enormous direct and indirect health care costs .
different reasons can be advanced to explain it , but among them the possibility that the recommended diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to copd were less effective than they could be , should be also considered . the pharmacological baseline treatment of stable copd has been widely based on the severity of airflow obstruction and recently , of chronic symptoms and on the annual number of previous exacerbations .
these recommendations do not take into account the underlying prevalent disease that should be treated and the future risk .
our suggestion is that the therapy must be firstly tailored on the prevalent disease leading to copd , independently from the degree of fev1 reduction and chronic dyspnea and only after that , according to the severity of the disorder ( and age of patient ) , to establish the level of the treatment in order to freeze , when possible , and not to follow the underlying pathological process , running after it .
moreover , given the relevance of exacerbations in the natural history of copd , greater effort should be placed on recognition of their prevalent type in frequent exacerbators and to prevent them using more tailored and specific treatment . |
7,409 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: over the past decade it has been increasingly acknowledged that the understanding of metalorganic interfaces is crucial for further improving organic ( opto)electronic and single - molecule devices . in this context , adsorbing organic acceptors or donors onto electrodes provides a convenient tool for modifying metal work functions and consequently for tuning the alignment between the metal fermi level and the organic semiconductor states .
a prototypical organic acceptor is 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane ( f4tcnq ) ( see right inset in figure 1 ) .
f4tcnq is a highly promising candidate for decreasing hole - injection barriers and has been thoroughly investigated in several spectroscopic and theoretical studies . for efficiently decreasing electron - injection barriers , doubly reduced viologens have recently been suggested as particularly potent materials .
this is especially true for 1h,1h-[4,4]bipyridinylidene , hv0 ( see left inset in figure 1 ) , for which a very strong charge transfer to the au(111 ) surface has been predicted theoretically.(17 ) this has later been confirmed experimentally for the more stable doubly methylated derivative 1,1-dimethyl-[4,4]bipyridinylidene .
this material has been found to decrease the work function of a au(111 ) surface by 2.2 ev(12 ) and to concomitantly decrease also the electron injection barrier into subsequently deposited organic electron transport layers such as c60 and alq3.(12 ) comparison of the molecular orbital occupation of f4tcnq on ag(111 ) ( circles ) , and hv0 on au(111 ) ( squares ) .
the filled ( open ) symbols represent molecular orbitals that are occupied ( unoccupied ) in the isolated molecules .
the right y - axis representing the occupations for f4tcnq orbitals has been shifted by a constant to ease the comparison .
the chemical structures of hv0 ( left , 1h,1h-[4,4]bipyridinylidene ) and f4tcnq ( right , 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane ) are shown as insets .
a more in - depth discussion of these data... | the electronic structure of metalorganic interfaces is of paramount importance for the properties of organic electronic and single - molecule devices . here
, we use so - called orbital overlap populations derived from slab - type band - structure calculations to analyze the covalent contribution to the bonding between an adsorbate layer and a metal . using two prototypical molecules , the strong acceptor 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane ( f4tcnq ) on ag(111 ) and the strong donor 1h,1h-[4,4]bipyridinylidene ( hv0 ) on au(111 ) , we present overlap populations as particularly versatile tools for describing the metalorganic interaction . going beyond traditional approaches , in which overlap populations
are represented in an atomic orbital basis , we also explore the use of a molecular orbital basis to gain significant additional insight . on the basis of the derived quantities , it is possible to identify the parts of the molecules responsible for the bonding and to analyze which of the molecular orbitals and metal bands most strongly contribute to the interaction and where on the energy scale they interact in bonding or antibonding fashion . |
7,410 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the protective action of dietary fiber against colorectal cancer ( crc ) has been attributed to the fermentation of fiber by anaerobic bacteria in the colon , producing butyrate 1 , an inhibitor of histone deacetylases ( hdaci ) , which produces cell cycle arrest , differentiation , and/or apoptosis of crc cells 2 - 4 .
wnt activity derives from the accumulation of beta - catenin , which becomes associated with dna - binding tcf factors ; the resulting beta - catenin - tcf complexes stimulate transcriptional activity from target genes 8 .
the constitutive activation of wnt signaling , primarily due to mutations in the apc and beta - catenin genes , promotes tumorigenesis in the colon 8 .
wnt signaling also plays a role in rna metabolism that may have consequences for tumorigenesis 9,10 .
for example , the wnt factor beta - catenin has been shown to influence various steps of rna metabolism in crc cells , modulating the levels of gene products relevant to colonic tumorigenesis , including cox-2 and cyclin d1 10 .
since wnt activity can influence rna metabolism 10 and butyrate can influence wnt signaling 5 - 7 , the findings that butyrate can directly modulate rna metabolism is provocative .
for example , butyrate inhibits the splicing of rna from the wnt - target gene c - myc , important for many forms of cancer including crc 11 , and also alters alternative splicing of the survival motor neuron ( smn ) gene , resulting in enhanced smn levels in vitro and in vivo
12 .
in addition , butyrate influences the relative levels of calcitonin and calcitonin gene - related peptide mrnas 13 , the ratio of which is controlled by alternative polyadenylation .
this latter finding suggests that butyrate modulates 3 ' end processing as well as splicing .
these findings indicate that wnt signaling , and the activation of this signaling by butyrate , influences rna metabolism , and that altered rna metabolism modifies patterns of gene expression related to tumorigenesis .
further , wnt signaling itself can be differentially... | rna processing involves a variety of processes affecting gene expression , including the removal of introns through rna splicing , as well as 3 ' end processing ( cleavage and polyadenylation ) .
alternative rna processing is fundamentally important for gene regulation , and aberrant processing is associated with the initiation and progression of cancer .
deregulated wnt signaling , which is the initiating event in the development of most cases of human colorectal cancer ( crc ) , has been linked to modified rna processing , which may contribute to wnt - mediated colonic carcinogenesis .
crosstalk between wnt signaling and alternative rna splicing with relevance to crc includes effects on the expression of rac1b , an alternatively spliced gene associated with tumorigenesis , which exhibits alternative rna splicing that is influenced by wnt activity .
in addition , tcf4 , a crucial component of wnt signaling , also exhibits alternative splicing , which is likely involved in colonic tumorigenesis .
modulation of 3 ' end formation , including of the wnt target gene cox-2 , also can influence the neoplastic process , with implications for crc . while many human genes are dependent on introns and splicing for normal levels of gene expression ,
naturally intronless genes exist with a unique metabolism that allows for intron - independent gene expression .
effects of wnt activity on the rna metabolism of the intronless wnt - target gene c - jun is a likely contributor to cancer development .
further , butyrate , a breakdown product of dietary fiber and a histone deacetylase inhibitor , upregulates wnt activity in crc cells , and also modulates rna processing ; therefore , the interplay between wnt activity , the modulation of this activity by butyrate , and differential rna metabolism in colonic cells can significantly influence tumorigenesis .
determining the role played by altered rna processing in wnt - mediated neoplasia may lead to novel interventions aimed at restoring normal rna metabolism... |
7,411 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: an ectopic thyroid gland is defined as thyroid tissue that is not located anterolaterally to the second to fourth tracheal cartilages .
anatomically , an ectopic thyroid can be lingual ( at the base of the tongue ) , sublingual ( below the tongue ) , prelaryngeal ( in front of the larynx ) , or can be found at other rare sites .
mediastinal ectopic thyroids are very rare , accounting for less than 1% of all cases , but rare mediastinal ectopic thyroid is also important to consider in the differential diagnosis of mediastinal masses . here , we review a rare case of mediastinal ectopic thyroid presenting with a paratracheal mass compressing the superior vena cava but without symptoms , a condition that has not been reported previously in korea .
a 65-year - old male presented with a right paratracheal mass , incidentally detected on a computed tomography ( ct ) scan performed during a health examination after a traffic accident ( fig .
he had no history of exposure to radiation , and there was no family history of thyroid disease .
the results of his laboratory tests were all within normal limits and included a thyroid stimulating hormone level of 0.96 mu / l ( normal range , 0.40 to 4.00 ) , t3 of 1,090
pmol / l ( normal range , 600 to 1,950 ) , and free t4 of 11.2
the titers of serum thyroid autoantibodies were also within normal ranges ; antithyroid peroxidase antibody was < 25 u / ml ( normal range , < 100 ) and antithyroglobulin antibody was < 25 u / ml ( normal range , < 100 ) . a ct scan of the neck ( fig .
1 ) revealed a 4.5 2.9 cm heterogeneously enhanced mass in the right paratracheal area .
the mass was located at the intersection of the caudal margin of the left brachiocephalic vein and the trachea , and it compressed the superior vena cava .
the thyroid gland was located in the normal position and showed slightly heterogeneous enhancement and no cervical adenopathy .
2 ) and ebus - transbronchial needle aspiration were performed to obtain a tissue sample of the paratracheal mass . during ebus ,... | mediastinal ectopic thyroid is a very rare condition , with few reported cases in the literature and no reported cases in korea .
this report describes an asymptomatic 65-year - old man with a right paratracheal mass compressing the superior vena .
additionally , the epidemiology , clinical manifestation , diagnosis , and management of mediastinal ectopic thyroids are discussed .
a mediastinal ectopic thyroid should be considered in the differential diagnosis of all mediastinal masses .
surgical excision is recommended for both the diagnosis and treatment of this condition , because of its potential for malignancy and compression of mediastinal structures .
this case demonstrates the clinical importance of mediastinal etopic thyroid . |
7,412 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: drug abuse or dependence is derived from a set of factors including social and family issues , availability , and individual s disposition ( 1 , 2 ) .
personality is another factor that may play an important role in preparation , acceleration , or maintenance of drug abuse or dependence behaviors .
personality disorders are highly observed among drug abusers both in clinical population ( 3 , 4 ) and non - clinical population ( 5 - 7 ) .
moreover , personality is a significant clinical feature that also affects smoking patterns and may influence the nicotine withdrawal syndrome expressions ( 8) .
the influential role of a number of personality traits in drug abuse and dependence is proved . transferring from regular smoking stage to dependence stage
numerous studies recognized that in addition to personality traits , onset age of smoking is also one of the important predictor variables in future dependence to other illegal substances .
many studies concluded that smoking is a risk factor among teenagers to be addicted to other drugs .
kandel et al . reported a significant relation between smoking cigarettes and use of other illegal drugs among high school students ; the use of illegal drugs in smokers who smoked daily was much higher than non - smokers ( 10 ) .
findings of several studies indicate that 98% of hashish users , before starting to use hashish , had used to smoke tobacco , and onset age of using hashish in these individuals was lower than the starting age of hashish consumption ( 11 ) .
individual traits such as genetic preparedness and personality traits , or environmental factors such as drug availability or peer influence , and lower age of smoking onset are among the strong predicting factors in future dependence that can explain the sequence of starting from one drug to another ( 12 ) .
the current research aimed to investigate the personality traits and onset age of smoking cigarettes as predicting variables in future use of illegal drugs .
the present research was a causal - comparative... | background : according to drug gateway theory , smoking cigarettes , especially , low onset age of smoking , is one of the risk factors for future use.objectives:the present study aimed to compare nicotine and opiate addicts to identify the differences in personality traits and onset age of smoking in the two groups that cause some individuals to appeal to other substances after starting to use cigarettes.patients and methods : two groups of opiate and nicotine addicts were randomly selected .
revised version of the cloninger temperament inventory questionnaire , the fagrastrom nicotine dependence and the maudsley addiction profile were used .
anova and logistic regression were applied for data analysis.results:opiate addicts had higher scores in novelty seeking dimension and lower scores in cooperativeness compared to nicotine addicts .
the onset age of smoking cigarette in opiate addicts was lower than nicotine addicts.conclusions:low onset age of smoking cigarettes , high novelty seeking and low cooperativeness in opiate dependents are among the important personality traits in future use of drugs that can predict the subsequent onset of using opiate drugs . |
7,413 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: type 1 diabetes mellitus ( dm ) and graves disease are autoimmune diseases , and a number of
genetic and environmental factors are thought to be involved in their etiology .
we have
demonstrated an association between both hla class ii genotype and ctla-4
( cytotoxic t lymphocyte antigen-4 ) gene polymorphism and childhood - onset type 1 dm ( 1 , 2 ) . the
incidences of hla - drb1 * 0405 , * 0901 , and dqb1 * 0303 , * 0401 were found to be significantly
higher in children with type 1 dm than in controls , whereas the incidences of drb1 * 0803 ,
* 1501 , * 1502 and dqb1 * 0301 , * 0601 , * 0602 were significantly lower ( 1 ) .
the g allele in the ctla-4 a / g polymorphism at
position 49 was more frequent in type1 dm children than in controls ( 2 ) .
we have also found an association between both hla class ii genotype
and ctla-4 gene polymorphism and childhood - onset graves disease in
japanese patients ( submitted for publication ) . in 1994
aaltonen et al . assigned the disease locus in finnish families
with apeced ( autoimmune polyendocrinopathy - candidiasis - ectodermal dystrophy ) to chromosome
21q22.3 based on the results of a linkage analysis between two markers , d21s49 and d21s171
( 3 ) , and in 1997 a novel gene was isolated from this
region and named the aire-1 ( autoimmune regulator-1 ) gene ( 4 , 5 ) . the
aire-1 gene is composed of 14 exons .
aire-1 protein is expressed in the
thymic medulla , where t - cell immune tolerance is established , as well as in the lymph nodes ,
spleen , and fetal liver , but it is not expressed in the affected organs of apeced patients .
kogawa et al . recently found that aire-1 protein is also restrictively
expressed in peripheral cd14-positive monocytes and in differentiated dendritic cells ( 6 ) .
apeced is an autosomal recessive disease that is especially frequent in finnish and iranian
jews , and is characterized by the simultaneous presence of at least two of three major
diseases in the same individual : hypoparathyroidism... | type 1 diabetes mellitus ( dm ) and graves disease are autoimmune diseases , and
a number of genetic factors , including hla and ctla-4 genes , have been reported to
contribute to their etiology .
the gene responsible for autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-
candidiasis - ectodermal dystrophy ( apeced ) has been cloned and named the autoimmune
regulator-1 ( aire-1 ) gene . aire-1 protein is thought to be a
transcription regulatory protein and to have a role in the maintenance of immunological
tolerance .
the aim of this study was to determine whether heterozygous
aire-1 gene mutations are associated with childhood - onset type 1
diabetes and graves disease in the japanese population .
we investigated 46 children with
type 1 dm ( 29 females and 17 males ; age at the time of diagnosis , 0.516 yr ) and 44
children with graves disease ( 34 females and 10 males ; age at the time of diagnosis , 316
yr ) for the presence of the k83e mutation in exon 2 and the r257x mutation in exon 6 of
the aire-1 gene .
the alleles were identified by polymerase chain reaction
of genomic dna and restriction fragment - length polymorphism analysis ( pcr - rflp ) with
endonuclease taqi .
since no patients with type 1 dm or graves disease
were found to carry the k83e or the r257x heterozygous mutation , we concluded that neither
the k83e nor the r257x heterozygous mutation in the aire-1 gene seem to
be the cause of the more common isolated endocrinopathies , i.e. , type 1 diabetes mellitus
and graves disease , in japanese children . |
7,414 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: there have been numerous investigations of the effects of noise in neurobiological dynamical systems , for both single neurons and neural networks .
a large number of interesting noise - related phenomena have been analyzed , including synchronization , stochastic resonance , and coherence resonance ( reviewed in lindner et al .
most often , noise leads to increased responses ( stein et al . 2005 ) and sometimes to the phenomenon of stochastic resonance in which a maximum occurs in a response variable at a particular noise strength ( wiesenfeld and moss 1995 ; gammaitoni et al . 1998 ; badzey and mohanty 2005 ) .
this phenomenon has been demonstrated in neuronal systems , particularly , but not exclusively , in the case of periodic inputs ( gang et al . 1993 ; collins et al . 1996 ; longtin 1993 ; nozaki et al . 1999 ) .
2006 ; sim and forger 2007 ) and in neuronal models ( gutkin et al . 2008 ) that noise can subdue or turn off repetitive neuronal activity .
in this article , we report further investigations of such properties in hodgkin huxley single neurons .
we find that there is a tuning effect of noise that has the opposite character to stochastic resonance , and thus , it might be called inverse stochastic resonance .
we argue that these phenomena will occur generically in neural and other dynamical systems that exhibit a specific kind of bistability between a stable limit cycle and a stable focus . in the central nervous system ,
the responses of many types of neurons to input currents , whether injected or synaptic , have been much investigated experimentally and theoretically ( mccormick et al .
they receive input signals from many other neurons through thousands of excitatory and inhibitory synapses at unpredictable or random times ( destexhe et al .
2001 ) . in order for a neuron to send out a signal , called an action potential ( bean 2007 ) , it must receive sufficient net excitation ( over inhibition ) in a small enough time interval so that the current or voltage distribution in the cell... | the effects of noise on neuronal dynamical systems are of much current interest . here
, we investigate noise - induced changes in the rhythmic firing activity of single hodgkin
huxley neurons . with additive input current
, there is , in the absence of noise , a critical mean value = c above which sustained periodic firing occurs . with initial conditions as resting values , for a range of values of the mean near the critical value
, we have found that the firing rate is greatly reduced by noise , even of quite small amplitudes .
furthermore , the firing rate may undergo a pronounced minimum as the noise increases .
this behavior has the opposite character to stochastic resonance and coherence resonance .
we found that these phenomena occurred even when the initial conditions were chosen randomly or when the noise was switched on at a random time , indicating the robustness of the results .
we also examined the effects of conductance - based noise on hodgkin
huxley neurons and obtained similar results , leading to the conclusion that the phenomena occur across a wide range of neuronal dynamical systems .
further , these phenomena will occur in diverse applications where a stable limit cycle coexists with a stable focus . |
7,415 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the patient data analyzed in this study were obtained from the united kingdom glaucoma treatment study ( ukgts ) .
the ukgts was a randomized , double - masked , placebo - controlled , multicenter treatment trial for open - angle glaucoma .
the study recruited newly diagnosed ( untreated ) glaucoma cases with glaucomatous visual field defects consistent with optic nerve head changes and with open angles on gonioscopy .
subjects with moderately advanced visual field loss ( mean deviation worse than 10 db in the better eye or worse than 16 db in the other eye ) were excluded from the study and subjects with iop greater than 35 mm hg on two consecutive visits were also excluded from the study .
subjects with lens opacity greater than p1 ( on the lens opacity classification system iii grading ) and those with other ocular comorbidities such as diabetic retinopathy were also excluded from the study .
further details on the inclusion and exclusion and other types of tests included in the ukgts study can be found elsewhere .
we analyzed test results for perimetry , neuroretinal rim area , and circumpapillary rnfl thickness .
the visual field sensitivity measures were obtained using the goldmann size iii stimulus on the humphrey field analyzer ( hfa ) ii or ii - i , ( carl zeiss meditec , dublin , ca , usa ) with the sita 24 - 2 program .
humphrey field analyzer test results with fixation losses greater than 20% or false - positive rate greater than 15% were excluded .
the exclusion criteria did not exempt any subjects in the original ukgts dataset from our study .
the rim area measurements were obtained using the hrt-3 ( software version 3.0.60 ; heidelberg engineering , heidelberg , germany ) . when the mean pixel sd of the hrt image was greater than 40 m , the hrt data were regarded as unreliable and were excluded .
rim area data were collected on 482 right eyes and 481 left eyes . after applying the exclusion criteria
we were left with hrt data for 482 and 480 right and left eyes , respectively .
the rnfl... | purposeto test with an independent data set the finding that between - subject variability in healthy eyes is the primary source of structural functional discordance in patients with glaucoma.methodsneuroretinal rim area , retinal nerve fiber layer thickness , and perimetric data were analyzed for one eye in each of 55 control subjects and for 245 right eyes of patients in the united kingdom glaucoma treatment study .
data were gathered with the heidelberg retina tomograph ( hrt ) , stratus optical coherence tomograph ( oct ) , and humphrey field analyzer ( hfa ) .
discordance was quantified as width of the limits of agreement from a bland - altman analysis of depth of defect .
the ratio of variances ( f test ) for the patient and control groups was computed for comparisons of hfa - oct , hfa - hrt , and oct - hrt .
bonferroni adjustment required p less than 0.017 for statistical significance .
the discordance in the patients was also quantified as the 95% prediction interval computed from the discordance in controls using the hood - kardon model for the hfa - oct comparison.resultsthe f ratio comparing discordance in patients and controls was 0.77 , 1.43 , and 1.32 for the hfa - oct , hfa - hrt , and oct - hrt comparisons with p values 0.88 , 0.06 , and 0.11 , respectively . for the hood - kardon model ,
4.7% of the patients had discordance outside the 95% prediction interval computed from the discordance in controls .
similar results were obtained when all comparisons were repeated for left eyes of patients.conclusionsthese results confirm previous findings that between - subject variability in healthy eyes is the primary source of structural functional discordance in patients with glaucoma , and extends this finding to a structural structural comparison . |
7,416 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: hospitals are complex organizations which face a unique challenge in this ever changing economic environment : they need to increase the quality of care offered to their patients , while still reducing the specific associated costs . in this respect , many countries have set multiple forms of future funding policies to pay for healthcare , whereby hospitals receive a certain amount for treating patients according to their number and type , and are unable to impact this price .
this system creates clear financial incentives to contain expenses , as hospitals that stay within the threshold will make a profit , while those delivering high - priced care will make a loss . for example , a drg ( diagnosis - related group ) system used to distinguish between patients with a certain diagnosis does not account for cost variability across disease progression .
thus , the main cause for cost variability even between hospital departments is attributed to the case mix index .
specialist or teaching hospitals ( secondary hospitals , respectively tertiary hospitals ) might make an argument that they treat relatively more severe patients due to their reputation for providing high quality care .
multi - hospital health systems have become the most popular administrative structure in the hospital industry , leading to both opportunities and challenges for hospital administrators . in government funded healthcare systems , a balance between costs and health services exists .
thus , pooling demand for specialized services can help contain healthcare expenses , but it can burden the patients as there will be increased travel distance .
one might be restraining operations to become more efficient , or to distinguish them from the competition , by offering enhanced products and services .
other possible reasons include increasing spending on public relations , or reinforcing their bargaining power with health plans .
specialized care units have the potential to increase the patient volume , reduce expenses , and increase quality... | background and aimmulti - hospital health systems have become the most popular administrative structure in healthcare , leading to both opportunities and challenges for hospital administrators . in government - funded healthcare systems , there is a balance between costs and the provision of health services.the aim of the present study is to assess the efficiency in terms of costs of a multi - pavilion hospital from cluj county , romania.methodsthe institution analyzed in this article is the adults clinical hospital in cluj - napoca . a descriptive retrospective study collected data from january 2004 to december 2010 .
a set of indicators were compiled , divided into three main categories : personnel , statistics , and financial.resultstwenty-one financial indicators were investigated .
heterogeneity between different years was observed for the continuous hospitalization indicator and the wage budget indicator .
the highest variability was observed between the budget and expenses indicators , while a smaller variability was observed at the average costs per patient .
the costs per patient have increased at all pavilions in the studied time frame , the higher costs being at the internal medicine and surgery pavilions : 10,203 ron in 2010 ( 1 euro ~ 4.4 ron)conclusionthe pavilions included in the adults clinical hospital cluj - napoca have different expenses patterns , as each pavilion is focused on different specialties .
each pavilion serves different target groups , requiring different procedures .
this in turn results in different expense patterns across each pavilion . |
7,417 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: sepsis is a major healthcare problem . despite advances in supportive care of critically ill patients
, sepsis remains an important cause of death worldwide in adults and children [ 13 ] .
the surviving sepsis campaign ( ssc ) , which standardized the approach to sepsis , was recently updated .
several efforts have been made to improve adherence to ssc guidelines [ 5 , 6 ] .
nevertheless , mortality and costs are still high [ 2 , 7 , 8 ] .
first , the presence of microorganisms in the bloodstream causes an innate immune response characterized by the stimulation of monocytes and release of proinflammatory cytokines and the activation of a medley of different immune pathways .
toll - like receptors ( tlrs ) play a key role in this initial immune activation , acting as innate immune system sensors through the recognition of highly conserved components of a variety of microorganisms . the activation of tlrs
induces an inflammatory response to control the infection , which results in local vasodilatation , release of various cytotoxic chemicals , and , hopefully , destruction of the invading pathogen .
many of these same components of inflammation that are beneficial in host defenses against infection can , under some circumstances , be deleterious , causing cell and tissue damage and hence multiple organ failure .
endotoxin , also known as lipopolysaccharide , is a component of gram - negative bacteria and a strong activator of tlr4 .
the recognition of endotoxin by immune cells is important in the pathogenesis of septic shock [ 10 , 11 ] .
conventional therapy such as antibiotics and surgical procedures to remove the source of infection is crucial for treating sepsis , but these approaches can not reverse the effects of the bacterial toxins already released into blood or of the endogenous mediators produced by the host in response to bacteria . over recent years , numerous attempts have aimed to intervene in the inflammatory cascade .
attempts to stop the inflammatory cascade using antiendotoxin strategies such... | severe sepsis results in high morbidity and mortality . immunomodulation strategies could be an adjunctive therapy to treat sepsis .
endotoxin is a component of gram - negative bacteria and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of septic shock when it is recognized by immune cells .
removal of endotoxin could be an effective adjunctive approach to the management of sepsis .
devices to adsorb endotoxin or inflammatory cytokines have been designed as a strategy to treat severe sepsis , especially sepsis caused by gram - negative bacteria .
polymyxin b - immobilized cartridge has been successfully used to treat patients with sepsis of abdominal origin .
although this cartridge was conceived to adsorb endotoxin , several other immunological mechanisms have been elucidated , and this device has also yielded promising results in patients with nonseptic respiratory failure . in this paper , we summarize the immune modulation actions of polymyxin b - immobilized cartridge to explore its potential usefulness beyond endotoxin elimination . |
7,418 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: laparoscopy is widely used as a tool in many clinical situations allowing for diagnosis and/or surgical management in a minimally invasive fashion .
nonetheless , attention to surgical technique is paramount to avoid both short and long term complications .
a 32-year - old woman had a laparoscopy and a reported left salpingoophorectomy for benign disease of the ovary in september , 1994 . shortly thereafter , in january , 1995 , she was diagnosed with an intrauterine pregnancy and delivered in october of 1995 by spontaneous vaginal delivery .
however , at the time of laparotomy , the patient was found to have a retained foreign body from her prior laparoscopy in the right lower quadrant with a pelvic abscess and evidence of prior right salpingoophorectomy .
although laparoscopy is usually done on an outpatient basis , complications can manifest several weeks or months later .
this case illustrates and reminds us of the importance of adherence to surgical laparoscopic principles .
these include direct visualization when removing equipment and a complete count of surgical instrumentation to confirm the integrity of such at the end of each procedure .
operative time is acceptable and recovery periods are significantly less than in open procedures with no significant difference in morbidity and/or mortality , even in pregnancy . a 32-year - old white woman presented to the gynecologic emergency room on november 21 , 1995 , complaining of tenderness and swelling of her right lower quadrant for three days . at that time she was four weeks postpartum from a spontaneous vaginal delivery .
her surgical history was significant for a laparoscopy done in september of 1994 in vienna , austria , where a left salpingoophorectomy reportedly was performed for an ovarian cyst .
pelvic examination revealed a normal uterus with a right adnexal mass approximately 8 cm in size , and exquisitely tender to palpation .
abdominopelvic ct scan revealed a 5.5 cm 4 cm 5.3 cm right adnexal mass , inflammatory in nature .
in addition to... | background : laparoscopy is widely used as a tool in many clinical situations allowing for diagnosis and/or surgical management in a minimally invasive fashion .
most laparoscopic cases are ambulatory and allow patients to recover quickly .
nonetheless , attention to surgical technique is paramount to avoid both short and long term complications.case:a 32-year - old woman had a laparoscopy and a reported left salpingoophorectomy for benign disease of the ovary in september , 1994 . shortly thereafter , in january , 1995 , she was diagnosed with an intrauterine pregnancy and delivered in october of 1995 by spontaneous vaginal delivery .
the pregnancy and delivery were both uncomplicated .
the patient presented four weeks postpartum with clinical suspicion of appendicitis .
however , at the time of laparotomy , the patient was found to have a retained foreign body from her prior laparoscopy in the right lower quadrant with a pelvic abscess and evidence of prior right salpingoophorectomy .
the appendix appeared grossly normal.conclusion:laparoscopy is a safe , effective modality for various surgical and gynecologic conditions .
although laparoscopy is usually done on an outpatient basis , complications can manifest several weeks or months later .
this case illustrates and reminds us of the importance of adherence to surgical laparoscopic principles .
these include direct visualization when removing equipment and a complete count of surgical instrumentation to confirm the integrity of such at the end of each procedure . |
7,419 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: in 2009 , the world health organization ( who ) published the surgical safety checklist ( ssc ) as part of their safe surgery saves lives campaign . the checklist was adapted from the field of aviation , where checklist use is standard practice . in aviation , checklists were developed in response to a crash involving an experienced pilot operating a new airplane with features that were significantly different from previous models . shortly after takeoff ,
an investigation revealed that the pilot had forgotten to perform one of the steps necessary for takeoff . in response ,
the checklist was created to prevent future avoidable disasters.(1 ) with more than 200 million operations performed annually , the who recognized the importance of addressing surgical safety when the checklist was introduced .
the purpose of the checklist was to help operating room ( or ) teams remember important details that may be missed during an operation .
in addition , it served as a tool to encourage teamwork and communication.(2 ) in a sense , the who came to the same conclusion that the plane crash investigation team had : even highly skilled or teams need tools to help them achieve optimal results . the initial who ssc
was piloted at eight diverse hospitals around the world and contained 19 items that were to be addressed at defined time points during the operation ( figure 1).(3 ) the items included in the ssc are aimed at preventing uncommon but serious errors by reminding the team to confirm patient identity , surgical site , and other important characteristics such as comorbid conditions or anticipated complications . results from the initial prospective , sequential , time - series observational study showed significant reductions in complications , in - hospital mortality , rates of unplanned reoperation , and surgical site infection ( ssi ) compared to pre - checklist rates .
( 4 ) since then , the who ssc has been implemented in more than 4,000 hospitals worldwide.(5 ) hospitals are encouraged to customize the checklist... | existing evidence suggests that communication failures are common in the operating room , and that they lead to increased complications , including infections .
use of a surgical safety checklist may prevent communication failures and reduce complications .
initial data from the world health organization surgical safety checklist ( who ssc ) demonstrated significant reductions in both morbidity and mortality with checklist implementation .
a growing body of literature points out that while the physical act of checking the box may not necessarily prevent all adverse events , the checklist is a scaffold on which attitudes towards teamwork and communication can be encouraged and improved .
recent evidence reinforces the fact the compliance with the checklist is critical for the effects on patient safety to be realized . |
7,420 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: mitochondrial cardiomyopathy can manifest with various cardiac phenotypes , such as left ventricle ( lv ) hypertrophy , dilatation , wall motion abnormality , and lethal ventricular arrhythmia ; these symptoms range from subclinical to critical conditions ( 1 ) .
the severity of myocardial dysfunction also predicts the prognosis of patients with mitochondrial disease , which highlights the importance of noninvasive assessment for myocardial dysfunction .
myocardial perfusion / metabolism mismatch ( the decreased uptake of technetium-99 m methoxyisobutylisonitrile [ tc - mibi]/the increased uptake of 123-labeled 15 - 4-iodophenyl-3-(r , s)-methyl - pentadecanoic acid [ i - bmipp ] ) has been reported in patients with mitochondrial cardiomyopathy ( 2,3 ) .
however , the previous studies did not compare the morphological images of patients with this condition . in the present case ,
we compared images of myocardial perfusion ( tc - mibi scintigraphy ) , fatty acid metabolism ( i - bmipp scintigraphy ) , and morphology ( cardiac magnetic resonance [ cmr ] and histology ) , and found that the images of our patient , who had a mismatch between perfusion and metabolism , were unique from those in the previous reports .
a 42-year - old man ( 157 cm , 48.4 kg ) was referred to our hospital with left chest pain , diabetes mellitus , and sensorineural hearing loss .
his mother had diabetes mellitus ; however , she did not have hearing loss or cardiovascular disease . at admission ,
his blood pressure was 121/79 mmhg , his heart rate was 82 beats / min with a regular pulse , and his percutaneous oxygen saturation was 98% in room air . although systolic heart murmurs were audible at the base ( 4lsb ) , there was no jugular venous distention , and his breathing sounds were normal .
hepatomegaly and splenomegaly were not present , and there was no edema in his extremities .
chest radiography revealed an increase in the cardiothoracic ratio ( 59% ) and mild pulmonary congestion ( fig .
twelve - lead electrocardiography... | a 42-year - old man was referred to our hospital due to chest pain , diabetes mellitus , and sensorineural hearing loss .
transthoracic echocardiography revealed diffuse left ventricular hypokinesis .
he was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease and a c.a3243 g mutation was identified in his mitochondrial dna .
this case of mitochondrial cardiomyopathy demonstrated a low uptake of 123i - bmipp , while the uptake of 99mtc - mibi was preserved .
in contrast , previous reports have noted the increased uptake of123i - bmipp and the decreased uptake of 99mtc - mibi .
this is the first study to show this unique 99mtc - mibi/123i - bmipp mismatch pattern .
we also discuss the relationships among the cardiac scintigraphy , cardiac magnetic resonance imaging , and histopathology findings . |
7,421 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: micrornas ( mirnas ) are nonprotein coding rnas of between 20 and 22 nucleotides that attenuate protein production by cleavage , translational inhibition , or sequestering of mrna in p bodies .
they are implicated in several different biological pathways , including plant and animal development , and cancer [ 24 ] . to better understand the role that mirnas play in these pathways , large datasets containing rna - seq , expressed sequence tags ( ests ) , and genomic sequences
are being investigated for new mirnas [ 5 , 6 ] . as these datasets grow in an ever increasing rate ,
the precursor folds back to base pair with itself to form a characteristic stem - loop structure .
the dicer protein cuts a short , double - stranded rna ( mirna : mirna * duplex ) from the precursor .
this double - stranded rna associates with the risc complex , where the mature mirna is retained while the mirna * is assumed to degrade .
the mirna - loaded risc complex is responsible for mrna cleavage , translational inhibition , or sequestering .
many methods for predicting mirnas from sequence data have been reported [ 6 , 816 ] . some of these methods are directed specifically at ests while others are specific for deep - sequencing data [ 10 , 11 , 17 ] .
several methods use machine learning approaches such as support vector machines ( svms ) [ 6 , 9 , 14 ] or decision trees [ 13 , 15 ] .
these methods typically incorporate information based on the predicted minimum free energy ( mfe ) of the precursor secondary structure .
xue et al . used a sliding triplet method to determine characteristic attributes within the triplets of mirna and non - mirna stem - loop structures for training an svm .
the authors reported prediction accuracy for mirna precursors of between 66.7% and 100% on a variety of plant and animal species , as well as viruses after training on known human mirna precursors .
it was trained using the same triplet element technique mentioned above , as well as other characteristics including dinucleotide shuffling... | micrornas ( mirnas ) are nonprotein coding rnas between 20 and 22 nucleotides long that attenuate protein production . different types of sequence data are being investigated for novel mirnas , including genomic and transcriptomic sequences .
a variety of machine learning methods have successfully predicted mirna precursors , mature mirnas , and other nonprotein coding sequences .
mirtools , mirdeep2 , and miranalyzer require read count to be included with the input sequences , which restricts their use to deep - sequencing data . our aim was to train a predictor using a cross - section of different species to accurately predict mirnas outside the training set .
we wanted a system that did not require read - count for prediction and could therefore be applied to short sequences extracted from genomic , est , or rna - seq sources .
a mirna - predictive decision - tree model has been developed by supervised machine learning .
it only requires that the corresponding genome or transcriptome is available within a sequence window that includes the precursor candidate so that the required sequence features can be collected .
some of the most critical features for training the predictor are the mirna : mirna duplex energy and the number of mismatches in the duplex .
we present a cross - species plant mirna predictor with 84.08% sensitivity and 98.53% specificity based on rigorous testing by leave - one - out validation . |
7,422 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: muscle cramps are painful , local , tangible , and involuntary skeletal muscular contractions that usually affect leg muscles .
muscle cramps are one of the common symptoms of pregnancy , especially during the third trimester that are often unidirectional .
leg cramps mostly happen twice a week or less frequently , usually at night , last a few seconds to a few minutes , and mostly disappear by themselves .
the mechanism for cramping is not known yet and is likely to be idiopathic , but it could be due to physiological changes in neuromuscular performance , weight gain , joint laxity in the final stages of pregnancy , impaired blood supply to lower body organs , and increased pressure on leg muscles during pregnancy .
pressure on blood vessels and nerves resulting from the enlarged uterus , imbalances between the intake and output of electrolytes and vitamins , and insufficient minerals intake might be other reasons for cramping . hence , could increase glomerular filtration and greater needs of the fetus for receiving minerals from the mother ( which reduces her serum calcium and magnesium levels ) .
cramps during pregnancy are not related to pregnancy complications and are not accompanied by undesirable consequences for the fetus , but the american sleep association considers leg cramps as one of the reasons for sleep disorders during pregnancy .
sleep disorder resulting from cramps influences performance of daily activities and may lengthen the duration of pregnancy and the type of childbirth .
moreover , the findings of studies have suggested that women with snoring in pregnancy have a higher risk for growth retardation of the fetus ; and women with sleep deprivation have a higher risk for preterm births .
various treatments have been suggested for preventing and curing leg cramps during pregnancy including taking vitamins b1 , b6 , e , and c and magnesium .
the effects of the calcium supplement on improving leg cramps during pregnancy were investigated in many studies .
some of these studies reported... | background : this study intended to determine the effects of vitamin d and calcium - vitamin d in treating leg cramps in pregnant women.materials and methods : this study was conducted as a double - blind randomized controlled clinical trial on 126 participants , 1835-year - old pregnant women with a minimum of two leg cramps per week who were referred to health - care centers in tabriz - iran in 2013 .
the participants were allocated to three 42 member groups using a randomized block design . for 42 days ,
the intervention groups took a 1000 unit vitamin d pill or 300 mg calcium carbonate plus a 1000 unit vitamin d pill , and the control group received a placebo pill every day .
the participants were evaluated with regard to the frequency , length , and pain intensity of leg cramps during the week before and during the 3rd and 6th week of the intervention .
the ancova and repeated measurement test were used to analyze the data.results:results showed that controlling for the effects before the intervention , calcium - vitamin d , and vitamin d supplements had no effect on the frequency , length , and pain intensity of leg cramps.conclusion:the results of this study showed that the calcium - vitamin d and the vitamin d supplements have no effect on the frequency , length , and pain intensity of leg cramps during the 6 weeks of the study . |
7,423 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: protein phosphorylation
can modulate protein activity , turnover , subcellular localization ,
complex formation , folding and degradation .
dynamic phosphorylation
plays a pivotal role in almost all biological processes including
cell division , differentiation , polarization and apoptosis .
the importance of
this post - translational modification ( ptm ) for cell biology has driven
the development of novel mass spectrometric tools for sensitive and
global detection of phosphorylation . however , the
analysis of phosphorylated peptides by mass spectrometry is still
not as straightforward as for regular , unmodified
peptides .
one of the major challenges in phosphoproteomics is to improve
ms level representation since phosphopeptides are usually present
at substoichiometric levels .
hence , an enrichment step is necessary
to enable deeper penetration of the phosphoproteome .
enrichment is
typically performed by chromatography , antibodies or metal - ion / metal oxide
affinity - based techniques .
two other main challenges
are the identification of phosphopeptides and confident localization
of the corresponding phosphosite .
the
challenge is caused by the higher lability of the phosphate group
when compared to the amide bond .
a number of strategies have been
proposed to circumvent poor fragmentation and improve sequence and
site diagnostic fragmentation , including the use of neutral loss - triggered
ms / ms / ms and multistage activation ( msa ) in ion traps , the use of beam type cid fragmentation , and electron capture / transfer dissociation or a combination of some of these approaches .
once phosphopeptide identification is feasible through sufficient
peptide backbone fragments , it can still be challenging to pinpoint
the true phosphosite .
this becomes more difficult as the number of
potential phosphorylation sites within the peptide sequence increases .
in principle
direct validation is feasible
through detection of a fragment ion that carries the... | we recently introduced a novel scheme combining electron - transfer
and higher - energy collision dissociation ( termed ethcd ) , for improved
peptide ion fragmentation and identification .
we reasoned that phosphosite
localization , one of the major hurdles in high - throughput phosphoproteomics ,
could also highly benefit from the generation of such ethcd spectra .
here , we systematically assessed the impact on phosphosite localization
utilizing ethcd in comparison to methods employing either etd or hcd ,
respectively , using a defined synthetic phosphopeptide mixture and
also using a larger data set of ti4 + -imac enriched phosphopeptides
from a tryptic human cell line digest .
in combination with a modified
version of phosphors , we observed that in the majority of cases ethcd
generated richer and more confidently identified spectra , resulting
in superior phosphosite localization scores .
our data demonstrates
the distinctive potential of ethcd for ptm localization , also beyond
protein phosphorylation . |
7,424 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: severe acute respiratory syndrome ( sars )
is a new emerging infectious disease , which was first reported in china in 2002
and was rapidly spreading all over the world in 2003 [ 1 , 2 ] .
patients develop persistent fever , dry cough , progressive
radiographic changes of chest , and lymphopenia once infected . despite
treatment , about 1015% of the patients would die due to the acute respiratory
distress [ 36 ] .
a novel coronavirus ( sars - cov ) was isolated from
sars patients [ 79 ] . sars - cov is a positive - stranded rna virus with an envelop .
comparative genomic studies using the in silico annotated proteins have
suggested that sars virus belongs to a new group of coronavirus . according to the genomic sequence of
sars - cov , it is predicted that there are several structural proteins can be
produced by sars - cov including spike ( s ) , envelop ( e ) , membrane ( m ) , and
nucleocapsid .
spike protein is very important in the binding and fusion of
coronavirus to the host cells [ 11 , 12 ] .
the s protein of sars - cov has 1255 amino
acids in length and 23 potential n - linked glycosylation sites .
the amino
terminus of the sars - cov s protein contains a short type 1 signal sequence
composed of hydrophobic amino acids that are presumably removed during
cotranslational transport through the endoplasmic reticulum .
the carboxyl
terminus consists of a transmembrane domain and a cytoplasmic tail rich in
cysteine residues . the majority of protein ( residues 121195 ) is outside the virus
particle , which can be divided into amino - terminal s1 and carboxyl - terminal s2
domain .
the s1 domain ( residues 12672 ) binds to the host cell receptor , angiotensin - converting enzyme 2 ( ace2 ) , while the
s2 domain is responsible for membrane fusion [ 1315 ] .
monoclonal
antibodies against s1 domain can block the receptor binding and contain potent
neutralization activity against sars - cov .
however , peptides derived
from s2 domain can also inhibit sars - cov... | molecular mimicry , defined as similar structures shared by molecules from dissimilar genes or proteins , is a general strategy used by pathogens to infect host cells .
severe acute respiratory syndrome ( sars ) is a new human respiratory infectious disease caused by sars coronavirus ( sars - cov ) .
the spike ( s ) protein of sars - cov plays an important role in the virus entry into a cell . in this study , eleven synthetic peptides from the s protein
were selected based on its sequence homology with human proteins .
two of the peptides d07 ( residues 927937 ) and d08 ( residues 942951 ) were recognized by the sera of sars patients .
murine hyperimmune sera against these peptides bound to proteins of human lung epithelial cells a549 .
another peptide d10 ( residues 490502 ) stimulated a549 to proliferate and secrete il-8 .
the present results suggest that the selected s protein regions , which share sequence homology with human proteins , may play important roles in sars - cov infection . |
7,425 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: simultaneous cardiac and pericardial rupture secondary to blunt chest trauma is a highly lethal combination with a rarely reported survival .
we present a young patient with a right atrioventricular groove injury , pericardial rupture and a unique and previously undescribed coronary sinus avulsion .
a 17-year - old male presented to our hospital after a high - speed motor vehicle crash that required prolonged extrication followed by rapid - sequence intubation .
he required one unit of packed red blood cells for hypotension . on arrival to the trauma bay , he was normotensive with a heart rate of 70 beats / min .
a focused abdominal sonogram for trauma ( fast ) was negative for fluid in the abdominal and cardiac windows .
full - body computed tomography ( ct ) scan revealed a retained left hemothorax and subtle irregularity of the proximal descending aorta concerning for aortic disruption [ figure 1 ] . following imaging ,
cardiothoracic surgery was called to the operating room due to concern for aortic disruption . upon exploring the left chest through a thoracotomy
the pericardium was traumatically ruptured , but the avulsed and skeletonized left phrenic nerve was intact [ figure 2 ] .
chest computed tomography scan image showing aortic irregularity ( arrow ) and retained left hemothorax traumatic rupture of the pericardium with exposed left phrenic nerve ( arrow ) control of bleeding was attempted by placing a large sheet of surgifoam along the atrioventricular groove at the base of the heart . shortly thereafter
, the heart distended and the patient arrested requiring emergent cardiopulmonary bypass achieved by cannulating the left apex and right atrium . further , inspection revealed avulsion tears of the coronary sinus extending to the inferior vena cava . there was a separate avulsion of the right atrial appendage near the right coronary artery .
post - operatively the patient recovered without further cardiac events and has been discharged from rehabilitation .
autopsy studies show that cardiac injury... | simultaneous cardiac and pericardial rupture from blunt chest trauma is a highly lethal combination with rarely reported survival .
we report of a case of young patient with a right atrioventricular groove injury , pericardial rupture and a unique description of a coronary sinus avulsion following blunt chest trauma .
rapid recognition of this injury is crucial to patient survival , but traditional diagnostic adjuncts such as ultrasound , echocardiography and computed tomography are often unhelpful .
successful repair of these injuries requires high suspicion of injury , early cardiac surgery involvement of and possible even placement of the patient on cardiopulmonary bypass . |
7,426 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the nuclear condensation in sperm cells is due to the replacement of about 85% of lysine - rich histones associated with dna , with transition proteins that are rich in arginine and protamine .
contrary to histones , which form a ring with dna ( nucleosomes ) , protamines are linked to the grooves of the dna helix , wrapping tightly around the strands of dna ( approximately 50 kb of dna for protamine ) , to form tight and highly organized loops . moreover ,
inter- and intramolecular disulfide bonds between the cysteine - rich protamines are also responsible for the compaction and stabilization of the sperm nucleus .
the result of these specific associations is an extreme nuclear condensation with the reduction of approximately 10% of the nucleus size .
the key protein that mediates the chromatin compaction is the brdt ( bromo domain testisspecific ) protein which is able to promote nuclear remodeling , thus ensuring the transition between the histone chromatin organization , or somatic , and the protaminic nucleus , typical of mature sperm .
in fact , physiological and environmental stress , as well as genetic mutations and chromosomal abnormalities may interfere with the mechanisms of spermatogenesis .
these changes may lead to abnormal chromatin structure that is incompatible with fertility [ figure 1 ] .
the defects of genomic material found in mature sperm may impair packaging ( defective histone and protamine replacement ) and maturation of the nucleus , leading to dna fragmentation ( i.e. single - or double - strand breaks ) and defects of dna integrity or chromosomal sperm aneuploidy .
causes of sperm oxidative stress in the case of atypical and immature sperm , the dna can fragment and lose its functional integrity , and thus lead to functional defects of the sperm .
the p53 molecule , so called because of its molecular mass is a sequence - specific transcription factor that responds to a wide range of stress signals and cellular functions , acting as a coordinator of cell destiny .
it is closely... | background : sperm dna integrity is considered an important parameter to assess seminal fluid quality and can be used as a predictive test of potential fertility . amongst the various tests to determine sperm dna integrity ,
one is the acridine orange test .
recent studies have demonstrated the importance of p53 in maintaining sperm dna integrity .
the aim of this study was to assess if a p53 elisa assay could be a new indicator of dna damage in human spermatozoa.materials and methods:103 human semen samples were evaluated using both acridine orange test and p53 elisa and results were compared.results:a clear correlation between the values measured by two methods was obtained.conclusions:if this hypothesis will be confirmed by further studies , the p53 elisa assay could become a new and more precise indicator of dna damage in human spermatozoa . |
7,427 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the bureau of alcohol , tobacco , firearms and explosives ( atf ) , a law enforcement agency within the united states department of justice , has been in the business of investigating the cause and origin of fires and explosions since the 1970s .
atf typically collaborates with other federal , state , and local authorities to provide this service through several venues . at the local level , criminal investigators with atf , especially ones holding special designations as certified fire investigators ( cfis ) , work side - by - side with their state and local counterparts to assist with investigation of post - fire and post - blast scenes .
these individuals may also serve on city - based federal arson task forces , in partnership with other federal , state , and local investigators , to address acute arson problems . at the national level
, atf maintains a well - trained national response team ( nrt ) which provides comprehensive response to assist these other jurisdictions with onsite investigation of major arson and bombing incidents .
the nrt is a multispecialty team comprised of criminal investigators with post - fire and post - blast investigation expertise , explosives enforcement specialists , forensic chemists , fire protection engineers , and other technical experts .
atf established the nrt program in 1978 and subsequently instituted a program for certification of criminal investigators as fire investigators ( cfis ) in 1986 . in 1995 , atf commenced a voluntary medical surveillance program for members of the nrt to monitor the health of participants working in the potentially hazardous environment of the post - fire / post - blast scene .
the agency extended the voluntary program to all cfis in 1997 . by 2000 , three white male participants of the program had reported diagnoses of bladder cancer between the years 1994 and 1999 .
this information raised concern that a bladder cancer cluster was occurring among scene investigators . in response to this concern , in 2002 atf mandated participation... | this study investigated a bladder cancer cluster in a cohort of employees , predominately criminal investigators , participating in a medical surveillance program with the united states bureau of alcohol , tobacco , firearms and explosives ( atf ) between 1995 and 2007 .
standardized incidence ratios ( sirs ) were used to compare cancer incidences in the atf population and the us reference population .
seven cases of bladder cancer ( five cases verified by pathology report at time of analysis ) were identified among a total employee population of 3,768 individuals .
all cases were white males and criminal investigators .
six of seven cases were in the 30 to 49 age range at the time of diagnosis .
the sirs for white male criminal investigators undergoing examinations were 7.63 ( 95% confidence interval = 3.7015.75 ) for reported cases and 5.45 ( 2.3312.76 ) for verified cases .
white male criminal investigators in the atf population are at statistically significant increased risk for bladder cancer . |
7,428 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: leiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata is an exceedingly rare benign disorder characterized by multiple vascular leiomyomas growing along the submesothelial tissues of the abdominopelvic peritoneum .
it is commonly described in women of reproductive age and is rarely seen in men and postmenopausal women .
a 65-year - old female patient with a history of abdominal surgery for gastrointestinal stromal tumor presented with abdominal pain , weakness , weight loss , and vomiting .
an examination revealed a chronically sick looking , emaciated patient with a long midline abdominal scar , and tenderness on deep palpation all over the abdomen .
, innumerable masses were found to arise from the outer walls of whole small intestine and mesentery , and there was a soft , 810 cm size liver mass .
histology showed highly cellular interlacing bundles of proliferating smooth muscle cells not associated with nuclear atypia or mitotic figures , and there was no necrosis seen , suggesting cellular leiomyoma .
leiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata is a very rare condition , especially in men and postmenopausal women .
it should be considered as a differential in patients with disseminated intra - abdominal masses arising in mesentery , peritoneum , and on walls of the intestine .
leiomyomas are histologically benign tumors of the uterus that very rarely occur in extrauterine sites.1 extrauterine leiomyomas are a diagnostic challenge and are often confused for malignancy during imaging .
their clinical presentation depends on their site of origin , number and size , and rapidity of growth .
their signal intensity is similar to that of smooth muscles in t1- and t2-weighted mr imaging and they have a whorled appearance on ultrasound.2 these extrauterine or atypical leiomyomas include leiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata ( lpd ) , benign metastasizing leiomyoma , retroperitoneal leiomyoma , etc.3 factors usually associated with lpd are pregnancy , long - term contraceptive use , and previous surgery for uterine leiomyoma ,... | backgroundleiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata is an exceedingly rare benign disorder characterized by multiple vascular leiomyomas growing along the submesothelial tissues of the abdominopelvic peritoneum .
it is commonly described in women of reproductive age and is rarely seen in men and postmenopausal women.case detailsa 65-year - old female patient with a history of abdominal surgery for gastrointestinal stromal tumor presented with abdominal pain , weakness , weight loss , and vomiting .
an examination revealed a chronically sick looking , emaciated patient with a long midline abdominal scar , and tenderness on deep palpation all over the abdomen .
ultrasound revealed diffuse intra - abdominal masses and a big liver mass . on laparotomy
, innumerable masses were found to arise from the outer walls of whole small intestine and mesentery , and there was a soft , 810 cm size liver mass .
histology showed highly cellular interlacing bundles of proliferating smooth muscle cells not associated with nuclear atypia or mitotic figures , and there was no necrosis seen , suggesting cellular leiomyoma.conclusionleiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata is a very rare condition , especially in men and postmenopausal women .
it should be considered as a differential in patients with disseminated intra - abdominal masses arising in mesentery , peritoneum , and on walls of the intestine . |
7,429 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: a 46-year - old female visited chonbuk national university dental hospital with the complaint of swelling in the left upper lip area .
a clinical examination found a bony and hard gingival swelling that extended from the left maxillary incisors to the premolar regions , as well as displacement of the left maxillary lateral incisor and canine .
neither tenderness nor pus discharge was observed upon palpation . a panoramic radiograph ( fig . 1 ) and a periapical radiograph ( fig .
2 ) showed an ill - defined multilocular radiolucency with a large cystic lesion extending from the left upper central incisor to the premolar area .
thick sclerotic trabeculae were observed in the lesion , as well as displacement of the left upper lateral incisor and canine .
3 ) revealed an ill - defined multilocular lesion with a cystic lesion and thick trabeculae on the left anterior maxilla .
thinning , expansion , and perforation of the buccal and palatal cortical plates were noted .
the lesion expanded into the left maxillary sinus with destruction of the anteromedial wall and mucosal thickening . with the tentative diagnosis of an odontogenic myxoma or ameloblastoma , the patient underwent partial osteotomy .
after an operation , a biopsy was performed , and the histologic analysis ( fig .
4 ) revealed a non - encapsulated mass with small , scattered tumor nests of epithelium in the fibrous stroma .
the patient has been disease - free for three years since the operation and is under routine follow - up care .
the present case differed from the lesions described in previous case reports in that it presented with a multilocular radiolucency that had thick sclerotic trabeculae , and showed no root resorption of the involved teeth .
ameloblastoma is a benign but locally aggressive polymorphic neoplasm that consists of proliferating odontogenic epithelium.7 three types of intraosseous ameloblastomas exist : the conventional or solid / multicystic variant , the unicystic variant , and the desmoplastic variant.10 in 1984 , eversole... | the desmoplastic variant of ameloblastoma is a rare form of ameloblastoma characterized by unique radiographic and histologic features .
a 46-year - old female was referred to our hospital , complaining of swelling in the left upper lip area .
radiographic findings revealed an ill - defined multilocular lesion with a large cystic lesion and thick sclerotic trabeculae on the left anterior maxilla .
after the patient underwent partial osteotomy , histologic analysis revealed a desmoplastic ameloblastoma with no evidence of a hybrid lesion or cyst formation .
the radiographic findings in the present case were different from those described in previous case reports .
these findings are of special importance due to the unfamiliar radiographic and histologic features of this lesion . |
7,430 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: lupus nephritis ( ln ) is a major clinical manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus that occurs in 15% of patients at diagnosis and in approximately 40% during the course of the disease .
renal biopsy is the gold standard for the diagnosis and follow - up , whereas the measurement of proteinuria identifies patients with overt renal failure , but fails to detect early silent disease .
thus , a better definition of the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to ln is required to identify effective markers of renal inflammation .
ln is generally attributed to an intriguing interplay between renal parenchymal cells and inflammatory cells recruited in consequence of the deposition and/or in situ production of immune complexes ( ics ) .
ics increase the production of cytokines , chemokines , and adhesion molecules which allow the progressive infiltration of macrophages , dendritic cells ( dcs ) and t - cells resulting in chronic renal failure .
moreover , cytokines and chemokines secreted by cells infiltrating glomeruli further promote the migration of other inflammatory cells that are attracted toward the inflammatory sites in response to a concentration gradient [ 3 , 4 ] .
notwithstanding sle is considered a t helper- ( th- ) 2 driven disease [ 57 ] , experimental models of ln proved the primary role of th1 cytokines for its development and severity , since large amounts of both interleukin- ( il- ) 12 and il-18 have been found within glomeruli of humans as well as in murine models of glomerulonephritis [ 811 ] . in parallel , high amounts of th2 cytokines as il-6 and il-10 were found in sera of sle patients with active disease , although they were not clearly associated with renal damage .
macrophages and dcs are major producers of cytokines within glomeruli and their interaction with resident t - cells amplifies the renal inflammation . in this context , the impaired t - cell activation as altered function of dcs has been demonstrated in sle , whereas dcs activate nave t - cells and regulate the cytokine... | lupus nephritis ( ln ) occurs in more than one - third of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus .
its pathogenesis is mostly attributable to the glomerular deposition of immune complexes and overproduction of t helper- ( th- ) 1 cytokines . in this context , the high glomerular expression of il-12 and il-18 exerts a major pathogenetic role .
these cytokines are locally produced by both macrophages and dendritic cells ( dcs ) which attract other inflammatory cells leading to maintenance of the kidney inflammation .
however , other populations including t - cells and b - cells are integral for the development and worsening of renal damage .
t - cells include many pathogenetic subsets , and the activation of th-17 in keeping with defective t - regulatory ( treg ) cell function regards as further event contributing to the glomerular damage .
these populations also activate b - cells to produce nephritogenic auto - antibodies .
thus , ln includes a complex pathogenetic mechanism that involves different players and the evaluation of their activity may provide an effective tool for monitoring the onset of the disease . |
7,431 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: as a service to our authors and readers , this journal provides supporting information supplied by the authors .
such materials are peer reviewed and may be re - organized for online delivery , but are not copy - edited or typeset . technical support issues arising from supporting information ( other than missing files ) should be addressed to the authors | by replacing the central thiophene unit of an anionic pentameric oligothiophene with other heterocyclic moities , a palette of pentameric thiophene - based ligands with distinct fluorescent properties were synthesized .
all ligands displayed superior selectivity towards recombinant amyloid fibrils as well as disease - associated protein aggregates in tissue sections . |
7,432 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: in the last decade , the large availability of the internet and the embracing of new digital technologies like smartphones are changing people 's way of life and introducing new social dynamics [ 1 - 7 ] .
social networks allow immediate communication with just one click , by searching , reaching and sending any kind of verbal messages , videos or images .
thus , the use of social networks facilitates virtual contacts and meetings with other people , replacing many personal relationships and commitments [ 1 - 5 ] . with its 1.4 billion active users ,
facebook is now considered the most popular social network worldwide [ 8 , 9 ] and , as a consequence , researchers have started to study some features of its use [ 10 , 11 ] , as well as its excessive use [ 12 , 13 ] .
caplan developed an overall theory about the misuse of the internet , according to which an online communication type allows to avoid negative feelings , such as loneliness and anxiety [ 14 , 15 ] .
griffiths stated that an addictive behavior is characterized by the six core components of addiction : salience , mood modification , tolerance , withdrawal symptoms , conflict , and relapse [ 16 , 17 ] .
he argued that any behavior that fulfills these six criteria can be considered as an addiction , including social networking .
furthermore , the addiction on social networks , as facebook , has also been considered only when the excessive use damages personal , family and/or professional life [ 18 , 19 ] .
some reports indicate that the excessive use of social networks increases isolation in real life , bringing harms to relationships .
it is worthily highlighted that a growing complaint in mental health services from patients or even parents worried about their children s is increased social isolation , levels of anxiety and worsening in school performance due to excessive social networks use .
griffiths described the social network sites ( snss ) addiction by 6 pillars : usage patterns , motivations , dependency and typical... | facebook is notably the most widely known and used social network worldwide .
it has been described as a valuable tool for leisure and communication between people all over the world .
however , healthy and conscience facebook use is contrasted by excessive use and lack of control , creating an addiction with severely impacts the everyday life of many users , mainly youths .
if facebook use seems to be related to the need to belong , affiliate with others and for self - presentation , the beginning of excessive facebook use and addiction could be associated to reward and gratification mechanisms as well as some personality traits .
studies from several countries indicate different facebook addiction prevalence rates , mainly due to the use of a wide - range of evaluation instruments and to the lack of a clear and valid definition of this construct .
further investigations are needed to establish if excessive facebook use can be considered as a specific online addiction disorder or an internet addiction subtype . |
7,433 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: , a wasting of bilateral leg muscles was evident , and she wore a foot brace . the motor weakness and wasting were more severe in the lower distal extremities than in the upper extremities .
muscular stretch reflexes were absent , and vibratory sense and pain appreciation were impaired distally in both upper and lower limbs .
patient 2 ( proband 's mother , ii-4 ) was a 45-year - old woman born after a normal delivery .
all early developmental milestones were achieved . at the age of 27 years , she experienced weakness of both upper extremities that lasted for 3 months after giving birth .
she experienced sensory impairment of the right upper extremity after working hard . also , her mother ( i-2 ) and two sisters ( ii-1 and -2 ) experienced similar recurrent episodes of weakness and sensory impairments after the application of minor pressure .
the proband showed markedly reduced motor nerve conduction velocities ( ncvs ) with prolonged distal motor latencies .
the median motor ncvs of the proband and her mother were 15.4 and 52.3 m / s , respectively ( normal value in our laboratory 50.5 m / s ) .
stimulation at the wrist , elbow , and above the elbow evoked motor compound muscle action potentials with normal amplitudes , and no conduction block was observed in either patient ( fig .
six microsatellite markers within 17p11.2-p12 ( d17s921 , d1s9b , d17s9a , d17s918 , d17s4a , and d17s2230 ) were genotyped to determine the presence of duplication or deletion .
we identified a 17p11.2-p12 deletion in patient 2 ( ii-4 ) , and diagnosed her as hnpp .
however , the proband ( iii-1 ) was determined as having a de novo duplication of paternal origin .
the duplication contained both paternal haplotypes , indicating that the de novo mutation was caused by an unequal nonsister chromatid crossover at paternal meiosis .
no other causative mutation in pmp22 , mpz , gjb1 , egr2 , nefl , prx , or mfn2 was identified in this family .
cmt disease and hnpp are genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous peripheral... | charcot - marie - tooth disease type 1a ( cmt1a ) is associated with duplication of chromosome 17p11.2-p12 , whereas hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies ( hnpp ) , which is an autosomal dominant neuropathy showing characteristics of recurrent pressure palsies , is associated with 17p11.2-p12 deletion .
an altered gene dosage of pmp22 is believed to the main cause underlying the cmt1a and hnpp phenotypes .
although cmt1a and hnpp are associated with the same locus , there has been no report of these two mutations within a single family .
we report a rare family harboring cmt1a duplication and hnpp deletion . |
7,434 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: mushrooms have been considered as ingredient of gourmet cuisine across the globe ; especially for their unique flavor and have been valued by humankind as a culinary wonder .
more than 2,000 species of mushrooms exist in nature , but around 25 are widely accepted as food and few are commercially cultivated .
mushrooms are considered as a delicacy with high nutritional and functional value , and they are also accepted as nutraceutical foods ; they are of considerable interest because of their organoleptic merit , medicinal properties , and economic significance [ 1 , 2 ] . however , there is not an easy distinction between edible and medical mushrooms because many of the common edible species have therapeutic properties and several used for medical purposes are also edible .
the most cultivated mushroom worldwide is agaricus bisporus , followed by lentinus edodes , pleurotus spp . , and flammulina velutipes .
mushrooms production continuously increases , china being the biggest producer around the world [ 1 , 4 , 5 ]
. however , wild mushrooms are becoming more important for their nutritional , sensory , and especially pharmacological characteristics .
mushrooms could be an alternative source of new antimicrobial compounds , mainly secondary metabolites , such as terpenes , steroids , anthraquinones , benzoic acid derivatives , and quinolones , but also of some primary metabolites like oxalic acid , peptides , and proteins .
lentinus edodes is the most studied species and seems to have an antimicrobial action against both gram - positive and gram - negative bacteria .
they have a great nutritional value since they are quite rich in protein , with an important content of essential amino acids and fiber , poor fat but with excellent important fatty acids content ( table 1 ) .
moreover , edible mushrooms provide a nutritionally significant content of vitamins ( b1 , b2 , b12 , c , d , and e ) [ 7 , 8 ] .
thus , they could be an excellent source of many different nutraceuticals and might be used directly in human... | mushrooms have been consumed since earliest history ; ancient greeks believed that mushrooms provided strength for warriors in battle , and the romans perceived them as the food of the gods . for centuries , the chinese culture has treasured mushrooms as a health food , an elixir of life .
they have been part of the human culture for thousands of years and have considerable interest in the most important civilizations in history because of their sensory characteristics ; they have been recognized for their attractive culinary attributes .
nowadays , mushrooms are popular valuable foods because they are low in calories , carbohydrates , fat , and sodium : also , they are cholesterol - free . besides , mushrooms provide important nutrients , including selenium , potassium , riboflavin , niacin , vitamin d , proteins , and fiber .
all together with a long history as food source , mushrooms are important for their healing capacities and properties in traditional medicine . it has reported beneficial effects for health and treatment of some diseases .
many nutraceutical properties are described in mushrooms , such as prevention or treatment of parkinson , alzheimer , hypertension , and high risk of stroke .
they are also utilized to reduce the likelihood of cancer invasion and metastasis due to antitumoral attributes .
mushrooms act as antibacterial , immune system enhancer and cholesterol lowering agents ; additionally , they are important sources of bioactive compounds . as a result of these properties ,
some mushroom extracts are used to promote human health and are found as dietary supplements . |
7,435 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: although various training modalities can be applied in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( copd ) ( eg , resistance , in - water , and tai chi ) , aerobic stimulus has been investigated in several studies , predominantly due to the ease of application , prescription and , consequently , monitoring of this training modality.1 aerobic training provides clear improvement in the quality of life and increases in aerobic parameters and functional capacity , thereby improving factors such as dyspnea , exercise intolerance , and reduced quality of life , which are common symptoms in patients with copd.13 mucociliary clearance is deficient in patients with copd4,5 mainly due to mucus hypersecretion , which is related to a significant decrease in forced expiratory volume in the first second and severe coughing .
this situation increases the risk of hospitalization.6 improvements in mucociliary clearance have been observed after acute aerobic stimulus , but the chronic effects are still controversial in healthy individuals.7,8 although knowledge about the response of mucociliary clearance to aerobic stimulus appears to be extremely important , no studies have investigated this parameter longitudinally in patients with copd .
aerobic training has been related to significant improvements in autonomic modulation , suggesting better adaptation and efficiency of the cardiovascular system.9,10 in addition , relations between autonomic control and aerobic variables were also observed acutely in copd patients,11 highlighting that good aerobic conditioning is related to an increase in the vagal activity of heart rate control .
however , the possible effects of different aerobic models on autonomic control remain unclear . in this context ,
aerobic training in patients with copd can be performed with continuous or interval efforts.1,12 continuous efforts are frequently applied 34 times per week , with different intensities and durations , whereas interval training sessions are applied 23 times per week , using... | introductionpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( copd ) exhibit aerobic function , autonomic nervous system , and mucociliary clearance alterations .
these parameters can be attenuated by aerobic training , which can be applied with continuous or interval efforts .
however , the possible effects of aerobic training , using progressively both continuous and interval sessions ( ie , linear periodization ) , require further investigation.aimto analyze the effects of 12-week aerobic training using continuous and interval sessions on autonomic modulation , mucociliary clearance , and aerobic function in patients with copd.methodssixteen patients with copd were divided into an aerobic ( continuous and interval ) training group ( at ) ( n=10 ) and a control group ( cg ) ( n=6 ) .
an incremental test ( initial speed of 2.0 kmh1 , constant slope of 3% , and increments of 0.5 kmh1 every 2 minutes ) was performed .
the training group underwent training for 4 weeks at 60% of the peak velocity reached in the incremental test ( vvo2peak ) ( 50 minutes of continuous effort ) , followed by 4 weeks of sessions at 75% of vvo2peak ( 30 minutes of continuous effort ) , and 4 weeks of interval training ( 53-minute effort at vvo2peak , separated by 1 minute of passive recovery ) .
intensities were adjusted through an incremental test performed at the end of each period.resultsthe at presented an increase in the high frequency index ( ms2 ) ( p=0.04 ) , peak oxygen uptake ( vo2peak ) ( p=0.01 ) , vvo2peak ( p=0.04 ) , and anaerobic threshold ( p=0.02 ) .
no significant changes were observed in the cg ( p>0.21 ) group .
neither of the groups presented changes in mucociliary clearance after 12 weeks ( at : p=0.94 and cg : p=0.69).conclusiontwelve weeks of aerobic training ( continuous and interval sessions ) positively influenced the autonomic modulation and aerobic parameters in patients with copd .
however , mucociliary clearance was not affected by aerobic training . |
7,436 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: developmental dysplasia of the hip comprises of disorders of hip development that present in different forms at different ages .
the common etiology is excessive laxity of the hip capsule , which fails to maintain the femoral head within the acetabulum . in newborns ,
the syndrome consists of instability of the hip such that the femoral head can be displaced from the acetabulum .
the hip may also rest in a dislocated position and be reducible . over time , the femoral head becomes fully dislocated and can not be reduced by changing the position of the hip .
the syndrome may manifest later in childhood as a developmental dislocation of the hip ( ddh ) or in adolescence as a hip with poorly developed acetabular coverage ; the latter is termed acetabular dysplasia ( ad ) . in general ,
infants are screened for ddh in the first 4 months of life by clinical examination .
if the infant demonstrates limited abduction of the affected hip , further physical examination , plain radiography , and an ultrasound are performed .
infants diagnosed with ddh are usually treated with a pavlik harness at the time of diagnosis . in addition ,
traction , closed reduction , and open reduction procedures are also selected as treatment options depending on the patient 's age . from 8% to 60% of patients with a history of treatment for ddh
osteoarthritis ( oa ) is an age - related degenerative disease that is common in both middle - aged and older women .
primary oa of the hip is an extremely rare condition in japan ; most patients have secondary oa due to ad and ddh .
japanese patients with oa of the hip have been reported to have higher rates of dysplasia than american patients ( 46% vs 4.5% ) , and significantly worse dysplasia compared with that in british populations ( mean center - edge angle of 37 vs 31 ) .
patients with ad have been reported to exhibit an abnormal morphology of the pelvis and have a high rate of comorbid spinal congenital anomalies , such as spina bifida occulta . in a recent study ,
bone mineral density was... | abstractprevious reports demonstrated 860% patients treated for developmental dislocation of hip ( ddh ) in infancy have residual acetabular dysplasia ( ad ) at skeletal maturity .
ad patients reportedly exhibit abnormal morphology of the pelvis , high rates of comorbid spinal congenital anomalies and high bone mineral density .
these physical findings suggest that ad patients have genetic background .
we examined the percentage of ad patients with hip pain at skeletal maturity having a history of ddh in infancy and the correlation between the severity of ad at skeletal maturity and history of ddh treatment to investigate the relationship between ad and ddh.a total of 245 patients were radiographically examined for any history of ddh treatment in infancy .
the study included 226 women and 19 men with a mean age at examination of 40.7 years ( range 1759 years).eighty - eight patients ( 36% ) had a history of ddh treatment ( ddh group ) and the remaining 157 patients ( 64% ) had no history of ddh treatment ( non - ddh group ) .
the average age was lower and acetabular angle was larger in the ddh group .
there was a significant increasing trend of the percentage of ddh patients associated with the severity of ad classified with ce , acetabular angle , and acetabular roof angle.our data suggest that there are several ad patients without a history of ddh in japan , and ad in patients without a history of ddh has different characteristics from ad in patients with a history of ddh . |
7,437 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: originally recognized as a cause for oral candidiasis among hiv - infected patients reports of severe fungal infections caused by candida dubliniensis are emerging in recent years . c. dubliniensis shares many phenotypic characteristics with the predominant fungal pathogen candida albicans like the ability of germ tube- and chlamydospore - production .
both species are able to switch between yeast- and filamentous form and are able to form biofilms on biotic and abiotic surfaces .
severe systemic infections by c. dubliniensis , however , have only been seen in immunocompromised patients , which indicates lower pathogenic potential of this candida species .
candida spondylodiscitis , often associated with significant morbidity , is rarely reported and predominantly caused by c. albicans
.
so far only one case of spondylodiscitis caused by c. dubliniensis in an intravenous drug addict with chronic hepatitis c virus ( hcv ) infection has been recently reported in the medical literature .
a 47-year old male was admitted with exacerbation of low - back pain radiating to the groin and the right leg to the bernhard - nocht - clinic of the university medical center hamburg - eppendorf , germany ( day 0 ) .
low - back pain and radicular symptoms started approximately one month prior to presentation with exacerbation by movement .
physical examination showed paraesthesias and a weakness of the right lower leg with a decreased patellar- and achilles tendon reflex .
he was diagnosed as hiv-1-positive 19 years ago and is currently on antiretroviral therapy with lamivudine 300 mg once daily , atazanvir 400 mg once daily and raltegravir 400 mg twice daily . at the time of presentation his cd4 t - cell count was 237/l ( normal range : 5001350/l ) and
viral load was undetectable ( hiv-1 taq - pcr : < 20 copies / ml ) .
furthermore he was diagnosed as hcv - positive genotype 1a 13 years ago . at time of admission he presented with a hcv - related liver cirrhosis ( child pugh a ) without any treatment up to now and a... | we report a case of spondylodiscitis and spinal abscess following haematogenous dissemination of the emerging yeast candida dubliniensis in a human immunodeficiency virus-1 ( hiv-1 ) and hepatitis c virus ( hcv)-coinfected patient .
although c. dubliniensis is considered less virulent compared to its closest known relative candida albicans , reports of severe fungal infections are increasing .
this case indicates that the pathogenicity of c. dubliniensis may be higher than previously believed . therefore fungal infections caused by this dimorph fungus should be kept in mind in immunocompromised patients with spondylodiscitis and spinal abscess
. |
7,438 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: herbal medicines are valuable and available resources of primary health care for thousands year in the traditional medicine including the thai folk medicine . generally , the bioactive compounds in herbal medicines are secondary metabolites which act as various pharmacological properties.1 , 2 , 3 they are used as the substances of modern drugs e.g. morphine from papaver somniferum for pain treatment,4 , 5 colchicine from colchicum autumnale for treatment in pericardial disease .
some studies have reported antibacterial activity from various herbs7 , 8 , 9 ; however , sufficient evidence to support their active compounds and their effectiveness for antibacteria and antibiofilm , particularly on oral pathogens is limited .
an imbalance of bacteria in the dental biofilm can cause dental caries and periodontitis which are major oral infections .
the high doses of antimicrobial agents are need for removing the biofilm in clinical approach.11 , 12 moreover , in long term use of chlorhexine ( chx ) mouth - rinse can cause side effects ; disturbance in taste sensation , brown discoloration at dorsum of tongue and desquamative lesions of oral mucosa.13 , 14 our previous study has presented anticandidal and antibiofilm of some thai herbs in thailand .
herbal medicines may be an alternative way for being antibacterial agents to prevent oral infectious diseases . this extended study was to evaluate the antibacterial and antibiofilm activities of 12 ethanol extracts of thai traditional herb included alpinia galanga , curcuma longa , curcuma zedoaria , piper betle , piper chaba , piper nigrum , piper sarmentosum , mentha cordifolia , ocimum africanum , ocimum basilicum , ocimum sanctum and zingiber officinale , and to investigate the active compounds of the most effective extract .
twelve herbs were purchased from the local market , and the details were shown in table 1 .
the herbs were identified by an expert in the department of pharmacognosy and pharmaceutical botany , faculty of pharmaceutical sciences , prince of... | to evaluate the antibacterial activity of 12 ethanol extracts of thai traditional herb against oral pathogens .
the antibacterial activities were assessed by agar well diffusion , broth microdilution , and time - kill methods .
antibiofilm activity was investigated using a 3-[4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl]-2,5-diphenyl-2h - tetrazolium - bromide ( mtt ) assay .
high performance liquid chromatography ( hplc ) , thin layer chromatography ( tlc ) fingerprinting , and tlc - bioautography were used to determine the active antibacterial compounds .
piper betle showed the best antibacterial activities against all tested strains in the minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal concentration , ranged from 1.045.21 mg / ml and 2.088.33 mg / ml , respectively .
killing ability depended on time and concentrations of the extract .
p.
betle extract acts as a potent antibiofilm agent with dual actions , preventing and eradicating the biofilm .
the major constituent of p.
betle extract was 4-chromanol , which responded for antibacteria and antibiofilm against oral pathogens .
it suggests that the ethanol p. betle leaves extract may be used for preventing oral diseases . |
7,439 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the world health organization projected that 300 million people will suffer from diabetes and 1.5 billion from hypertension by 2025 . according to the diabetes atlas 2006 published by the international diabetes federation
, the number of people with diabetes in india currently around 40.9 million , is expected to rise to 69.9 million by 2025 unless urgent preventive steps are taken .
the incidence of hypertension in patients with t2 dm is approximately two - fold higher than in age - matched subjects without the disease .
hypertension has been identified as a major risk factor not only for the development of diabetes but also for the development of micro and macro vascular complications , that is , neuropathy , nephropathy , retinopathy , coronary artery disease ( cad ) , stroke , peripheral vascular disease ( pvd ) in diabetic patients .
it has been evident from framingham heart study , ukpds ( united kingdom prospective study-39 ) , hypertension optimal treatment ( hot ) , systolic hypertension in the elderly programme ( shep ) , systolic hypertension in europe ( syst - eur ) , hypertension in the very elderly trial ( hyvet - pilot ) that reduction in either isolated systolic or systolic - diastolic hypertension significantly reduces the risk of micro and macro vascular complications and cardiovascular ( cv ) death or diabetes - related death [ 511 ] .
lowering blood pressure ( bp ) in patients with diabetes mellitus is more cost effective than tight blood glucose control , and beneficial results are apparent earlier .
therefore , all of the hypertension management guidelines , that is , seventh report of joint national committee on prevention , detection , evaluation , and treatment of high blood pressure-2003 ( jnc-7 ) , american diabetes association ( ada ) 2010 , european society of hypertension ( esh ) , who guideline [ 8 , 10 , 12 ] focused aggressively on blood pressure ( bp ) control in diabetic patient to below 130135/8085 mmhg [ 8 , 9 , 12 ] . given the importance of the blood pressure control... | background .
hypertension management is of a paramount importance in diabetic patients for cardiovascular risk reduction .
aim . to evaluate prescribing pattern of antihypertensive in t2 dm ( type 2 diabetes ) patients and compare with existing recent guidelines
. methods .
a cross - sectional study involving evaluation of all t2 dm patients referred to endocrinology unit at tertiary care centre for hypertension , comorbid complications , and recording prescription . utilization of 5 different antihypertensive drug classes was compared for all patients receiving 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , or more drugs .
logistical regression was used to assess likelihood of prescription of drugs and/or therapy for specific conditions mentioned in the guidelines
. results . out of 1358
, t2 dm enrolled patients 1186 ( 87% ) had hypertension ( males 52% , females 48% ) .
the median duration ( iq ) of hypertension diabetics was 4 ( 110 ) years .
a total of 25% patients had controlled bp and 75% with uncontrolled blood pressure ( 13% isolated systolic hypertension , 6% isolated diastolic hypertension , and 55% both elevated ) .
overall , ace inhibitors ( aceis ) were prescribed the highest ( 59% ) followed by angiotensin receptor blockers ( arbs ) ( 52% ) , calcium channel blockers ( ccbs ) ( 29% ) , diuretics ( 27% ) , and beta - blockers ( 14% ) .
overall , 55% of t2 dm patients were on polytherapy , 41% on monotherapy , and 4% had no antihypertensive treatment .
polytherapy was more predominant with age , duration of diabetes , duration of hypertension , and comorbid complications . conclusion .
although prescribing pattern of antihypertensive showed adherence to existing evidence - based guidelines , higher proportion of uncontrolled hypertensive patients was found . |
7,440 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: eczema is an inflammatory skin reaction characterized histologically by spongiosis with varying degrees of acanthosis .
however , eczema is divided into two groups ; exogenous eczemas , e.g. contact dermatitis , are related clearly to defined external triggering factors , although inherited tendencies can also play a part , whereas endogenous eczema , e.g. atopic dermatitis , seborrhoeic dermatitis , is not a result of exogenous or external environmental factors , but is mediated by processes originating within the body .
zliten is located in the northwest of libya , and its population is about 170,000 .
there is only one general district hospital ( with a dermatology clinic ) and two private dermatological practices in the area .
therefore , the aim of this study was to provide preliminary data about the burden of eczema among libyan dermatologic patients by assessing the following : the proportion of various types of eczema , the distribution of eczema according to gender and age , and its incidence according to the month or season .
this retrospective case study describes the clinical patterns of endogenous and exogenous eczema in patients seen in three dermatology clinics in the zliten area ( zliten central hospital dermatology clinic and two private practices ) from 1st january 2006 to 31st december 2006 .
the study also describes the clinical pattern of eczema , its relation to age and gender of patients , and its seasonal variation .
diagnosis of eczema was based on internationally accepted criteria for the diagnosis of atopic dermatitis based on clinical features of the disease .
the uk original criteria is that to make the diagnosis of atopic dermatitis in presence of itch for the preceding 12 months is required plus two or more of flexural dermatitis , onset before the age of two years , a personal history of asthma or hay fever , and dry skin .
the diagnosis of cases was mainly clinical but skin scrapings and biopsies were taken and examined in doubtful cases .
all data was coded , stored and... | the life style and demographic structure of libyan society is changing , and this could affect the epidemiology of certain diseases , including eczema .
the aim of this study was to assess the burden of eczema among a selected patient population in the zliten area in the northwest of libya .
we conducted a retrospective study by reviewing case notes and records in public and private dermatology practices in the zliten area .
the frequency of eczema among patients attending dermatology clinics in the zliten area was 12.8% , and the male to female ratio was almost 1:1 .
the most affected age group among patients was 20 - 29 years .
eczema represented a larger proportion of dermatologic conditions during spring and summer .
of all cases of eczema , 72.6% were endogenous and 24.9% were exogenous ( p<0.001 ) .
the most common type of eczema was contact dermatitis ( 22.7% of all cases ) , followed by atopic dermatitis ( 19.7% ) and pityriasis alba ( 10.5% ) . in conclusion , eczema is a public health problem in zliten - libya , and this necessitates prospective studies to determine its incidence and prevalence . |
7,441 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: crystals of angiotensinogen and the complex of human angiotensinogen with de - glycosylated renin - asp292ala were grown at room temperature under conditions listed in supplementary table 1 .
datasets were collected at 100k at the daresbury and diamond synchrotron light sources and processed with the ccp4 program suite .
the structures of human , rat and mouse angiotensinogen were solved by molecular replacement in phaser27 , using an ensemble of distantly related serpins as the search model with additional phase information obtained from a gdcl3 derivative of human angitensinogen .
the structure of the complex with renin was solved by molecular replacement using renin from pdb entry 2bks28 and its peptide complex from pdb entry 1smr7 .
further details related to crystal structures and refinement , recombinant expression , thiol titration and nitrosylation and the assessment of sulphydryl blockage and oxidation , the determination of redox potentials , renin kinetics and the demonstration of reduced and oxidised forms of angiotensinogen , are given in methods . | blood pressure is critically controlled by angiotensins1 , vasopressor peptides specifically released by the enzyme renin from the tail of angiotensinogen , a non - inhibitory member of the serpin family of protease inhibitors2,3 . although angiotensinogen has long been regarded as a passive substrate , the crystal structures solved here to 2.1 resolution show that the angiotensin cleavage - site is inaccessibly buried in its amino - terminal tail .
the conformational rearrangement that makes this site accessible for proteolysis is revealed in a 4.4 structure of the complex of human angiotensinogen with renin .
the co - ordinated changes involved are seen to be critically linked by a conserved but labile disulphide bridge .
we show that the reduced unbridged form of angiotensinogen is present in the circulation in a near 40:60 ratio with the oxidised sulphydryl - bridged form , which preferentially interacts with receptor - bound renin .
we propose that this redox - responsive transition of angiotensinogen to a form that will more effectively release angiotensin at a cellular level contributes to the modulation of blood pressure .
specifically , we demonstrate the oxidative switch of angiotensinogen to its more active sulphydryl - bridged form in the maternal circulation in pre - eclampsia - the hypertensive crisis of pregnancy that threatens the health and survival of both mother and child . |
7,442 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: . a myoepithelioma classically presents as an asymptomatic mass that slowly enlarges over a long period of time . however , recurrent and malignant ones have also been described .
they are more likely to occur in the parotid gland , but rare cases arising from minor salivary glands are also on record.[35 ] the authors present an exceptionally rare case of sinonasal myoepithelioma with recurrent and resistant to treat clinical course . to our knowledge and regarding the medline database ,
the patient was a 57-year - old iranian male living in dargaz , a small district in north east of iran .
he was admitted to the e.n.t ward , ghaem hospital , mashhad university of medical sciences in june 2010 .
first , at 1993 , he accidentally discovered a small painless mass of the palate , which was excised in an outpatient care facility .
thereafter , the patient had five more debulking surgeries . at the time of admission ,
the patient was complaining of nasal fullness , hyponasal speech , snoring , oral breathing , and loss of hearing on left side . on oral examination , the hard palate in the right side had been removed and a nasal mass was obvious through it .
both computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a huge bilateral lobulated sinonasal mass with extension to cribriform plate and near the dura , medial walls of both orbits , and upper gingival area [ figure 1 ] .
t1-weighted transverse ( left ) and sagittal ( right ) planes show a huge bilateral sinonasal mass the patient underwent a functional endoscopic sinus surgery to debulk the tumor .
the removed specimen was stored in 10% buffer formalin and sent to the pathology department .
the specimen was made by multifragmented irregular - shaped brownish soft tissue with the dimensions of 3.5 3 2 cm .
the whole tissue was processed , cut , and stained with h and e. microscopically , the specimen showed a hypercellular tumoral tissue composed of plasmacytoid cells with eccentrally located round - ovoid nuclei and acidophilic cytoplasms... | myoepithelioma is an uncommon benign neoplasm that most likely occurs in the parotid gland .
extra - salivary myoepitheliomas are rare , with less than 10 cases reported in the sinonasal cavity .
we present a rare case of benign myoepithelioma with recurrent behavior , abundant extensions to adjacent structures , and resistant to treat clinical course , which influenced the patient s quality of life for more than 18 years .
histologic , immunohistochemical , and the potential differential diagnoses are discussed .
the patient refused to undertake any more treatments , but after 15 months of follow - up , the lesion did not progress further . |
7,443 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: these properties help ni - ti instruments to negotiate and prepare curved root canals without early permanent deformation unlike stainless steel files .
the ni - ti alloys used for manufacturing the endodontic files contain approximately 56% ( wt ) nickel and 44% ( wt ) titanium .
though niti instruments have many advantages , incidence of instrument separations are not uncommon in clinical use .
niti rotary instruments fracture in two different ways : fracture because of torsion and fracture because of flexural fatigue .
the endodontic files are in constant contact with the irrigants during the cleaning and shaping procedures .
even short - term contact with these irrigants can cause alterations in the surface of niti instruments .
sodium hypochlorite is the most commonly used endodontic irrigant whose antimicrobial effectiveness is based on its high ph ( ph > 11 ) .
there is a contact between rotary niti instruments and the naocl solution during clinical use and cleaning and sterilization procedures .
nygaard ostby introduced ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid ( edta ) to the field of endodontics , in 1957 , and recommended the use of 15% edta solution with a ph of 7.3 . since then
, edta has been used as the most common chelating solution , which reacts with calcium ions in dentin and form soluble chelates . the constant increase in antibiotic resistant microbial strains and the side effects caused by the use of synthetic drugs and also the hazards associated with irrigants such as
naocl has prompted researchers to look for safer , more biocompatible and patient friendly herbal alternatives . among the herbal alternatives
triphala has been proven to be safe and containing active constituents that have beneficial physiologic effect and also having curative properties such as being antioxidant , anti - inflammatory and radical scavenging .
triphala is an indian ayurvedic herbal formulation consisting of dried and powdered fruits of three medicinal plants terminalia bellerica , terminalia chebula , and... | aim : to use atomic force microscope and energy dispersive x - ray spectroscopy to evaluate the effect of 5% naocl , 17% edta and triphala on protaper and irace rotary ni - ti instruments.methodology:a total of eight ni - ti rotary files , four files each of protaper - s2 ( dentsply ) and irace - r3 ( fkg dentaire ) were used .
three out of four files each from protaper and irace were immersed in 5% naocl , 17% edta and triphala separately for five minutes .
the roughness average ( ra ) , root mean square ( rms ) and mean height of roughness profile elements ( rc ) of the scanned profiles were then recorded using afm and the elemental composition was evaluated with eds .
data were analyzed by student 's t test , one way anova and duncan 's multiple range test.results:topographic irregularities at the nanometric scale were observed for all files .
files immersed in edta and naocl showed highly significant surface roughness than untreated files.conclusion:short-term contact with 17% edta and 5% naocl can cause significant surface deterioration of protaper and irace rotary niti files .
afm proves to be a suitable method for evaluating the instrument surface . |
7,444 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: diabetes mellitus ( dm ) increases the risk of heart failure development even in the absence of coronary artery disease , hypertension , or other comorbidities1 , 2 and could result in a two to fourfold greater mortality in heart failure patients .
indeed , dm is capable of impairing the myocardial function : this is initially a clinically silent condition ; nevertheless , if left unrecognized and insufficiently managed , it could beget overt diabetic cardiomyopathy . the right ventricular ( rv ) function plays a significant role in the overall myocardial contractility.3 nevertheless , most of the previous studies regarding diabetes - induced changes in myocardial dysfunction were dedicated to the left ventricle ( lv ) at the cost of ignoring the role of the right heart chambers .
the existing literature of course does contain a limited number of studies on the rv cardiomyopathies of patients with dm type i ; however , to our knowledge , there is only one recent study probing into dm type ii drawing up on three - dimensional strain and strain rate .
the objectives of the present study were to evaluate the rv systolic and diastolic functions using conventional echocardiography , tissue doppler imaging ( tdi ) , and deformation indices ( strain and strain rate ) in patients with dm type ii and without coronary artery disease or lv dysfunction .
the study group was comprised of 22 diabetic patients ( 9 men and 13 women ) aged 55.6 6.0 years .
these patients either referred to the dm clinic of rajaei cardiovascular , medical and research center or were amongst the hospital stuff .
the control group consisted of 22 healthy individuals ( 9 men and 13 women ) .
all the diabetic patients enrolled in this study were asymptomatic , without any clinical evidence of either systolic or diastolic heart failure .
the control subjects were considered to have a low probability of coronary disease or heart failure based on clinical data .
coronary artery disease was excluded if there was a negative dobutamine stress... | background : diabetes mellitus is capable of impairing the myocardial function .
several studies have documented the influential impact of diabetes mellitus on the left ventricular function .
the right ventricular function plays a significant role in the overall myocardial contractility ; hence , this study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of diabetes mellitus type ii on the right ventricular function.methods:twenty-two diabetic patients without any coronary artery disease , hypertension , or left ventricular dysfunction were studied .
the right ventricular end diastolic diameter , tricuspid plane systolic excursion , right ventricular inflow doppler parameters , longitudinal myocardial velocities , and deformation indices from the basal and apical segments of the right ventricular free wall of the case group were measured .
the control group consisted of 22 healthy individuals.results:the tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion ( tapse ) and tricuspid peak early to peak late diastolic flow velocities ratio ( e / a ) in the diabetic patients were significantly lower than those of the control group patients ( 18.9 vs. 23.2 , p value < 0.001 and 0.96 vs. 1.21 , p value = 0.012 ) , but there were no significant differences in the right ventricular end diastolic diameter and the right ventricular tei index between the two groups ( p value = 0.72 ) .
the right ventricular basal peak myocardial systolic velocity ( sm ) ( 12 cm / sec vs. 13.4 cm / sec ; p value = 0.03 ) , basal and apical right ventricular free wall systolic strain ( 13.3% and 18.7% vs. 20.2% and 25.7% ; p value = 0.001 ) , and apical strain rate ( 1.2 1/s vs. 1.6 1/s ; p value = 0.008 ) were significantly lower in the study group .
there was a weak correlation between the right ventricular function and hba1c as well as the duration of diabetes mellitus and c - reactive protein.conclusion:our results suggest that diabetes mellitus type ii can influence the right ventricular function in the absence of coronary artery disease ,... |
7,445 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the development of artificial bioengineered constructs largely depends on adequate vascularization to guarantee sufficient oxygen supply . the arteriovenous
( av ) loop model is an established method to obtain transplantable bioartificial tissue in vivo .
originally based on the findings of erol and spira and subsequently modified by murphy et al . and tanaka et al .
this model of benign angio - inductive behavior triggers the formation of novel vessel sprouts remarkably without additional extrinsic and angio - inductive factors . in brief , a femoral vein is dissected , harvested , and as an autologous graft , interposed between the contralateral femoral artery and vein .
this results in an arteriovenous fistula , which is then embedded in a fibrin - filled teflon chamber .
a mature microcirculatory system originates mainly from the venous graft , thereby facilitating cultivation , harvesting , and transfer of rudimentary organ - like structures to a secondary defect site , thus minimizing donor site morbidity [ 69 ] .
as vascularization is crucial to promote clinical implementation of bioengineered constructs , tremendous research efforts have been undertaken to further optimize vessel formation within the av loop .
the current understanding of angiogenesis is evolving , as the underlying nature and mediating signaling pathways fundamentally differ in various types of angiogenesis .
watson et al . demonstrated that vascular flow is essential for hypoxia - driven angiogenesis in embryonic development .
furthermore , we recently pointed out that distinct av associated changes of the hemodynamic load namely the shear rate are responsible for triggering the angio - inductive behavior of endothelial cells within the venous graft .
both of these observations fundamentally rely on the presence of angio - inductive endothelial cells and a viable venous graft . however , polykandriotis et al . and westerband et al
moreover , zdolsek et al . demonstrated that utterly decellularized and avital vein... | backgroundthe arteriovenous ( av ) loop model enables axial vascularization to gain a functional microcirculatory system in tissue engineering constructs in vivo . these constructs might replace surgical flaps for the treatment of complex wounds in the future .
today , free flaps are often exposed to high - dose radiation after defect coverage , according to guideline - oriented treatment plans .
vascular response of av loop - based constructs has not been evaluated after radiation , although it is of particular importance .
it is further unclear whether the interposed venous av loop graft is crucial for the induction of angiogenesis.material/methodswe exposed the grafted vein to a single radiation dose of 2 gy prior to loop construction to alter intrinsic and angio - inductive properties specifically within the graft .
vessel loops were embedded in a fibrin - filled chamber for 15 days and radiation - induced effects on flow - mediated vascularization were assessed by micro - ct and two - dimensional histological analysis.resultsvessel amount was significantly impaired when an irradiated vein graft was used for av loop construction . however , vessel growth and differentiation were still present .
in contrast to vessel density , which was homogeneously diminished in constructs containing irradiated veins , vessel diameter was primarily decreased in the more peripheral regions.conclusionsvascular luminal sprouts were significantly diminished in irradiated venous grafts , suggesting that the interposing vein constitutes a vital part of the av loop model and is essential to initiate flow - mediate angiogenesis .
these results add to the current understanding of av loop - based neovascularization and suggest clinical implications for patients requiring combined av loop - based tissue transfer and adjuvant radiotherapy . |
7,446 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: aging is associated with an increased risk of developing respiratory impairment1 . after a stroke , respiratory function
lung function tests are not
necessarily conducted in rehabilitation , sometimes because there is no examination
equipment .
( mainly for the pectoralis major muscle ) is to
improves the ratio of dyspnea in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with respiratory
dysfunction .
therefore , it appears thought that the shoulder joint horizontal adductor
muscles on the rib cage are involved in respiratory function .
shoulder joint horizontal
adductor muscle strength measurements could be used as an alternative evaluation of cases
for whom lung function tests are difficult .
accordingly , this study examined a measurement
method of shoulder joint horizontal adductor muscle strength using geriatric and stroke
patients .
muscle strength measurements using a handheld dynamometer ( hhd ) consist of two types : a
make test and a break test .
one limitation of using an hhd is that the make test can not
measure the maximum muscle strength of a subject if the examiner can not resist the subject s
movement .
another limitation of an hhd is that the break test can not measure the maximum
muscle strength of a subject if the subject can not maintain the position .
previous studies
have reported that 30 kg ( 300 n ) is the fixed limit for an hhd in the make test4 , 5 .
katoh et al . devised a method of using a belt as a countermeasure to the fixed hhd limit
when measuring lower limbs with high muscle strength values and reported on the reliability
of this method for a variety of subjects6,7,8,9 .
our research group has also reported on the
usefulness of the belt with a fixed hhd limit for shoulder joint horizontal adductor muscle
strength measurements of young healthy japanese adults10 and its reliability11 .
however , the reliability of this method in the measurement of
geriatric and non - healthy individuals has not yet been reported .
few measurements and high
... | [ purpose ] this study aimed to verify the appropriate number of measurements and the
intrarater reliabilities of shoulder joint horizontal adductor muscle strength
measurements using a handheld dynamometer ( hhd ) for geriatric and stroke patients .
[ subjects and methods ] the subjects were 40 inpatients , who were divided into two groups :
20 stroke patients in the stroke group ( sg ) , and 20 geriatric patients in the no - stroke
group ( n - sg ) .
measurements were performed three times using an hhd with a belt .
the
reliability was verified using bland - altman analysis and the intraclass correlation
coefficient ( icc ) .
[ results ] icc ( 1 , 1 ) was > 0.9 .
a systematic bias was not observed
between the first and second measurement values except for the right side in n - sg .
a
systematic bias between the maximum value obtained during the first and second
measurements and third measurement value was observed on the left side in n - sg , and on the
non - paralyzed side in sg : the third measurement values were small in both cases .
[ conclusion ] intrarater reliabilities were high for shoulder horizontal adductor strength
measurements using an hhd with a belt for geriatric and stroke patients . taking the
systematic bias into consideration , these findings suggest that the required number of
measurements is two . |
7,447 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: benign schwannoma is a slow growing encapsulated tumor arising from the neuroectodermal sheath of schwann .
approximately , 25 - 30% of all reported schwannomas occur in the head and neck and most of these in the eighth nerve .
schwannoma of the facial nerve is a rare entity with very few cases reported in the literature . in our case
a 7-year - old female was brought to ent out - patient department with right - sided parotid swelling of 1-year duration .
initially , the swelling was small in size that gradually and painlessly increased up to its present size [ figure 1 ] .
the swelling was 10 cm 9 cm 7 cm in size , firm in consistency , had bosselated appearance , was mobile horizontally and vertically and the skin over the swelling was mobile .
cytology was advised , and it came out to be a benign parotid tumor . since the mass was large in size and patient was a child , a computed tomography ( ct ) scan
ct scan suggested a well - defined , lobulated , homogenous , mildly enhancing soft tissue lesion with loss of interface with the masseter muscle and multiple small lymph nodes [ figure 2 ] .
a provisional diagnosis of pleomorphic adenoma was made , and superficial parotidectomy planned [ figure 3 ] .
peroperatively , the facial nerve trunk was found deeper and inferior due to pushing effect of the tumor . however , on further anterior dissection the tumor was found to originate from the buccal and zygomatic branches of the facial nerve .
the patient had postoperative ( after 3 months of surgery ) facial weakness of grade three ( house brackmann classification ) [ figure 4 ] .
female patient with right parotid swelling ( preoperative ) computed tomography scan showing the parotid mass line of incision of the planned surgery postoperative photograph showing facial weakness the gross appearance of the tumor was like a brain tissue [ figure 5 ] and histopathologically , it was confirmed to be an intraparotid shwannoma , showing antoni type a and b cells [ figure 6 ] .
the lymph node showed reactive changes .... | pleomorphic adenomas are the most common tumors which present as parotid masses .
shwannoma ( peripheral nerve sheath tumor ) is a rare entity in this region .
very few schwannomas originate from the facial nerve and in the majority of these cases the tumor involves its intratemporal part .
the following case is reported because it presented as an asymptomatic parotid swelling with normal seventh nerve function , which masqueraded as pleomorphic adenoma clinically , radiologically and cytologically .
however , it turned out to be peripheral nerve sheath tumor on histopathological examination . |
7,448 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: one - dimensional ( 1d ) nanostructures such as wires , rods , belts , and tubes , whose lateral dimensions fall anywhere in the range of 1100 nm , have become the focus of intensive research , owing to their unique applications in mesoscopic physics and fabrication of nanoscale devices [ 1 - 6 ] . among one - dimensional ( 1d ) nanostructures , nanobelts ( or nanoribbons ) , a relatively new family of 1d nanostructures with a rectangular cross section , have received increasing attention since the discovery of novel oxide semiconductor nanobelts [ 4 - 8 ] .
a variety of functional oxide and sulfide [ 10 - 17 ] nanobelts have been successfully fabricated by simple thermal evaporation .
the methods used in 1d nanostructure synthesis and hydrothermal processes have emerged as powerful tools for the fabrication of anisotropic nanomaterials with some significant advantages , such as controllable particle size and low - temperature , cost - effective , and less - complicated techniques . under hydrothermal conditions , many starting materials can undergo quite unexpected reactions , which are often accompanied by the formation of nanoscopic morphologies that are not accessible by classical routes . in recent years , 1d nanomaterials such as ln(oh)3[19 - 21 ] , cdwo4 , moo3 , and dy(oh)3
cadmium hydroxide , cd(oh)2 , is a wide band gap semiconductor with a wide range of possible applications including solar cells , photo transistors and diodes , transparent electrodes , sensors , etc . .
cadmium hydroxide is also the precursor to prepare cadmium oxide . as a consequence , numerous techniques
have been proposed to synthesize nano - sized cd(oh)2 particles with promising control of properties [ 25 - 28 ] . however , up to now , to our best knowledge , the synthesis of cd(oh)2 nanobelts by hydrothermal process has not been reported .
herein , we report the preparation of cadmium hydroxide nanobelts by the conventional polyol assisted hydrothermal process .
in a typical procedure ; cdcl2 2h2o ( 0.2281 g ) was... | cd(oh)2nanobelts have been synthesized in high yield by a convenient polyol method for the first time .
xrd , xps , fesem , and tem were used to characterize the product , which revealed that the product consisted of belt - like crystals about 40 nm in thickness and length up to several hundreds of micrometers .
studies found that the viscosity of the solvent has important influence on the morphology of the final products .
the optical absorption spectrum indicates that the cd(oh)2nanobelts have a direct band gap of 4.45 ev . |
7,449 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: mesoporous sba-15 silica molecular sieves of large pore diameter ( up to 30 nm ) and area ( up to 1000 m g ) show excellent homogeneity and stability and can be well controlled for adsorption / desorption processes .
mesoporous silica materials , especially mesoporous sba-15 molecular sieves , have been modified with 3-mercaptopropyl , 3-aminopropyl , octyl , or octadecyl groups for the separation and analysis of inorganic ions , organic compounds , and biological molecules [ 25 ] .
magnetic separation is a useful tool because of its fast recovery , high efficiency , and low high cost .
inclusion of magnetic components in modified materials allows convenient and economical magnetic separation instead of centrifugation and filtration steps on application of an appropriate magnetic field [ 79 ] . because of
their potential applications in this approach , the preparation of co , co / fe , -fe2o3 , -fe2o3 , and fe3o4 magnetic sba-15 materials have been reported [ 1015 ] .
we propose a convenient and effective procedure for iron doping of mesoporous sba-15 silica because of its excellent magnetic properties .
then fe was transformed to the oxide form by calcination in the air . finally ,
ferric oxide in sba-15 was reduced with h2 [ 7 , 15 , 16 ] .
fourier - transform infrared ( ft - ir ) spectroscopy , powder x - ray diffraction ( xrd ) , mssbauer spectra ( ms ) , surface area analysis , scanning electron microscopy ( sem ) , and transmission electron microscopy ( tem ) techniques were used to characterize the material .
the iron content in fe - sba-15 was determined by atom adsorption spectroscopy ( aas ) . with the development of petroleum refining and chemical engineering ,
the release of harmful organic chemicals into the environment has attracted global attention because of their toxicity and widespread use , especially aromatic compounds considered as carcinogenic .
the aim of the present study was to develop a method for preparing magnetic sba-15 for use as a sorbent to remove benzene and related... | magnetic fe - sba-15 mesoporous silica molecular sieves were prepared , characterized , and used for magnetic separation .
wet impregnation , drying , and calcination steps led to iron inclusion within the mesopores .
iron oxide was reduced to the metal form with hydrogen , and the magnetic fe - sba-15 was obtained .
fourier - transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the preparation process from the oxide to metal forms .
the structure of magnetic materials was confirmed by mssbauer spectra .
powder x - ray diffraction data indicated that the structure of fe - sba-15 retained the host sba-15 structure .
brunauer - emmett - teller analysis revealed a decrease in surface area and pore size , indicating fe - sba-15 coating on the inner surfaces .
scanning electron micrographs confirmed the decrease in size for modified sba-15 particles . from scanning electron micrographs , it was found that the size of the modified sba-15 particles decreased .
transmission electron micrographs also confirmed that modified sba-15 retained the structure of the parent sba-15 silica .
fe - sba-15 exhibited strong magnetic properties , with a magnetization value of 8.8 emu g1 .
the iron content in fe - sba-15 was determined by atom adsorption spectroscopy .
fe - sba-15 was successfully used for the magnetic separation of three aromatic compounds in water .
our results suggest wide applicability of fe - sba-15 magnetic materials for the rapid and efficient separation of various compounds . |
7,450 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: this special issue of food biophysics journal contains papers originally presented at the 3rd international symposium on delivery in complex food systems , which was held at wageningen university , the netherlands , from october 18 to 21 , 2009 .
as the subtitle already indicates , the purpose of this symposium is to build a better understanding of the physical processes which are involved in creating food products and which impact their consumption , at all relevant length scales .
the topic is of interest to scientists from academia , industry and government as it relates to the building of basic understanding , to the production of high - quality foods and to development and maintenance of the regulatory framework to protect consumers , the environment and ascertain a healthy competition in the food industry .
this symposium was the third one in what can truly be called a series now , with the first symposium held in lausanne ( ch ) , 20051 and the 2nd one in 2007 in amhurst ( ma , usa).2 in this 3rd symposium a number of talks concentrating on , or taking into account the fate , of common and newly designed food structures during their passage through the human gastro - intestinal tract .
these steps target the actual delivery of the nutrients to the human body which is critical for its biological functionality .
not only are consumers nowadays better informed about the relation between life - style and own health , of which their food consumption pattern is a critical part , there is also a strong development in the regulatory domain to protect the same consumers from misleading claims on food products .
foods with attached health claims which go beyond the normal nutritional content and impact , the so - called functional foods , have to meet all existing requirements and consumers expectations with regard to all sensory aspects , convenience and pricing , but also have to actually deliver the functional ingredient which is linked to the claimed health effect .
the large number of dossiers submitted to... | the wageningen delivery of functionality symposium covered all aspects involved with food structural design to arrive at high - quality foods which meet demanding customer expectations and regulatory requirements .
the symposium integrated aspects from the structural organization of foods at molecular and supramolecular scales to dedicated techniques required to describe and visualize such structures , the gastro - intestinal events and how to model these in a laboratory setting , and finally the impact those food structures and ingredients have on the consumer s physiology and on the human perception . as an interdisciplinary platform , bringing together more than 160 researchers from academia and industry , the symposium meanwhile fulfills an important role in the food science community . |
7,451 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the introduction of imatinib mesylate ( glivec/gleevec , novartis , basel , switzerland ) has improved outcomes for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor ( gist ) , and imatinib is now considered the standard first - line treatment in patients with metastatic or unresectable gist ( 1 , 2 ) .
imatinib is generally well tolerated , although some patients have difficulty tolerating the standard dose of 400 mg / day , which may necessitate imatinib dose reductions .
however , patients and physicians are cautious and sometimes reluctant to reduce the dose of imatinib because of concerns about disease progression .
indeed , results from a pharmacokinetic analysis suggested that adequate drug exposure , as determined by imatinib plasma trough concentration , is correlated with clinical benefit ; a low plasma trough concentration of imatinib ( < 1,100 ng / ml ) might contribute to reduced efficacy in patients with advanced gist ( 3 ) .
previous pharmacokinetic studies also showed that imatinib blood levels have high interpatient variability ( 3 - 5 ) and are affected by several covariates , such as albumin concentration , creatinine clearance , white blood cell count , and major gastrectomy ( 3 , 5 ) .
as a result , monitoring imatinib plasma concentration on an individual basis may be important for optimizing clinical outcomes of patients with advanced gist ( 6 , 7 ) .
some patients who take the standard dose of imatinib may have abnormally high plasma levels of imatinib due to their individual predisposition to decreased drug metabolism ( 3 - 5 ) ; it is known that some imatinib - related toxicities may be related to overexposure to the drug ( 6 ) .
the problem becomes even more complicated when these imatinib - related toxicities confound the evaluation of response to imatinib therapy .
for example , when patients do not have tumor size reduction and ascites develops as a toxicity of imatinib , this may be misinterpreted as having disease progression and managed with imatinib dose escalation or... | imatinib , the first - line treatment in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors ( gist ) , is generally well tolerated , although some patients have difficulty tolerating the standard dose of 400 mg / day .
adjusting imatinib dosage by plasma level monitoring may facilitate management of patients who experience intolerable toxicities due to overexposure to the drug .
we present two cases of advanced gist patients in whom we managed imatinib - related toxicities through dose modifications guided by imatinib plasma level monitoring .
imatinib blood level testing may be a promising approach for fine - tuning imatinib dosage for better tolerability and optimal clinical outcomes in patients with advanced gist . |
7,452 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: cataract surgery with intraocular lens ( iol ) implantation is the most common ophthalmic surgical operation .
the mean annual incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis ( poe ) among cataract patients ranges from 0.05 to 0.14% [ 15 ] . in practice , ophthalmologists apply topical antibiotic drops to prevent this rare but potentially devastating complication .
[ 3 , 68 ] . an american society of cataract and refractive surgery ( ascrs ) survey ( n = 1312 ) showed that fourth - generation fluoroquinolones were preferred by most surgeons ( 81% ) for infection prophylaxis after surgery .
the topical fourth - generation fluoroquinolone moxifloxacin has proven advantageous over older fluoroquinolones as well as other topically available antimicrobials .
it has a broader spectrum of action and excellent penetration into eye tissues and is able to deliver a concentration thousands of times the minimum inhibitory concentration [ 1013 ] .
topical corticosteroids such as dexamethasone are applied with infection prophylaxis to minimize , if not eliminate , the inflammatory reaction expected after surgery .
it has been reported that treatment with combined steroid - antibiotic eye drops was effective in preventing infection and controlling inflammation after phacoemulsification and iol implantation [ 1416 ] . in our setting , as well as in other developing nations ,
financial capabilities of patients and expenditure restrictions from health care organizations demand cost effectiveness . a fixed - combination eye preparation
not only helps in cutting costs but also improves patient compliance due to convenience in dosing and application .
its efficacy and tolerability in ophthalmic surgery has been evaluated [ 15 , 17 ] . however , its clinical use in asian patients with cataract has not been reported .
the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of the combination formulation in the prevention of postoperative inflammation and infection following phacoemulsification in predominantly... | background .
the use of a fixed - combination antibiotic corticosteroid for infection prophylaxis in asian patients undergoing phacoemulsification has not been reported .
methods . a 15-day , open - label ,
single - arm trial of 64 patients for phacoemulsification with intraocular lens ( iol ) implantation is described .
patients applied moxifloxacin 0.5%/dexamethasone 0.1% ( vigadexa ) eye drops four times daily before and until 15 days after surgery .
anterior chamber ( ac ) reaction , visual acuity , ocular pain and signs , and intraocular pressure ( iop ) were assessed at baseline and on postoperative days 1 , 3 , 8 , and 15 .
results . at day 15 ,
55 ( 91.7% ) patients scored 0 ( < 5 cells ) in ac reaction .
no surgery - related infection occurred .
mean best - corrected visual acuity improved 0.5 logmar from baseline to 0.0 logmar ( p < .0001 ) .
mean iop remained at 12 - 13 mm hg over the 15-day
treatment .
only 2 patients ( 3.1% ) reported minimum ocular
pain .
two ( 3.1% ) patients were shifted to prednisolone acetate
for severe inflammation . at the end of the study period ,
8.3%
were given fluorometholone for 1 week for ac reaction grade
> 0 .
no drug - related adverse event was reported .
conclusion .
following phacoemulsification and iol
implantation , the topical combination moxifloxacin
0.5%/dexamethasone 0.1% was effective in preventing
infection and controlling inflammation and was well
tolerated . |
7,453 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: it has been argued that the unaffected hemisphere may contribute to early recovery of motor function after stroke in humans1 and animals.2 a single session of somatosensory stimulation in the form of peripheral nerve stimulation improves motor function in chronic stroke.35 a decrease in short - interval intracortical inhibition ( sici ) in the affected hemisphere has been reported after somatosensory stimulation and motor training.3 on the other hand , the effects of somatosensory stimulation on cortical excitability in the unaffected hemisphere are largely unknown
. different aspects of corticomotor excitability can be evaluated using transcranial magnetic stimulation ( tms ) . resting motor threshold , ( i.e. , the minimum intensity necessary to elicit an mep in 50% of trials6 in a target muscle using a single tms pulse )
sici refers to a decrease in motor evoked potential ( mep ) amplitude that usually occurs when a conditioning , subthreshold stimulus precedes a suprathreshold stimulus at an interstimulus interval ( isi ) of 16 ms.7 an increase in mep amplitude ( intracortical facilitation ) occurs at greater isis ( 625ms ) .
sici and intracortical facilitation ( icf ) likely reflect intracortical post - synaptic activity , which depends on the excitability and integrity of separate inhibitory ( sici ) and excitatory icf neurons with a possible spinal contribution to icf.89 our study measured sici and icf in the unaffected hemisphere of nine hemiparetic , well - recovered , chronic stroke patients to evaluate if somatosensory stimulation of the paretic hand was associated with excitability changes in the ipsilateral unaffected hemisphere . in addition , we evaluated correlations between hand motor function and corticomotor excitability .
nine chronic phase patients ( > 6 months ) with infarcts in the middle cerebral artery territory participated in this study .
inclusion criteria were hemiparesis , caused by a single ischemic cortical or subcortical infarction in the middle cerebral artery territory ; age... | introductionsomatosensory stimulation of the paretic upper limb enhances motor performance and excitability in the affected hemisphere , and increases activity in the unaffected hemisphere , in chronic stroke patients .
we tested the hypothesis that somatosensory stimulation of the paretic hand would lead to changes in excitability of the unaffected hemisphere in these patients , and we investigated the relation between motor function of the paretic hand and excitability of the unaffected hemisphere.methodstranscranial magnetic stimulation was administered to the unaffected hemisphere of nine chronic stroke patients .
patients were submitted to 2-h somatosensory stimulation in the form of median nerve stimulation and control stimulation using a cross - over design .
baseline jebsen - taylor test scores were evaluated . resting motor threshold , intracortical facilitation ,
short - interval intracortical inhibition , and visual analog scores for attention , fatigue and drowsiness were measured across conditions.resultsbetter pre - stimulation baseline motor function was correlated with deeper sici in the unaffected hemisphere .
we found no overt changes in any physiological marker after somatosensory stimulation .
there was increased drowsiness in the control session , which may have led to changes in intracortical facilitation.conclusionsour results do not support an overt effect of a single session of somatosensory stimulation of the paretic hand on motor cortical excitability of the unaffected hemisphere as measured by motor threshold , short - interval intracortical inhibition or intracortical facilitation .
it remains to be determined if other markers of cortical excitability are modulated by somatosensory stimulation , and whether repeated sessions or lesion location may lead to different effects . |
7,454 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: intravenous rtpa remains the only proven treatment for acute ischaemic stroke in the general population .
patients with end - stage renal disease ( esrd ) on dialysis have a 510-fold higher incidence of stroke than the general population with an overall incidence rate of 1333 per 1000 patient - years .
this may reflect the bleeding diathesis of uraemia as well as the effects of anticoagulation for vascular access and dialysis circuit patency , the prevalence and degree of hypertension , and the established ethnic variations .
patients with esrd have been traditionally excluded from the large prospective randomized controlled trials that form the evidence base for treatment of vascular disease , including stroke , in the general population .
renalism is to potentially restrict access to beneficial therapies in a cohort that would have derived the greatest benefit .
in addition , extrapolating outcome data derived from studies in the general population to patients on haemodialysis is not always fruitful . in one of
the few adequately powered large prospective randomized controlled trials in haemodialysis ( hd ) , atorvastatin did not reduce the incidence of stroke in stark contrast to studies in the general population . at present
, the use of thrombolytic therapy for acute ischaemic stroke in hd patients has not been described .
he had a prior diagnosis of progressive chronic kidney disease secondary to obstructive uropathy and recurrent urosepsis , and a hydronephrotic left kidney requiring insertion of a j - j ureteric stent in june 2009 . in addition , he had type 2 diabetes mellitus , ischaemic heart disease ( myocardial infarction march 2009 ) and a diagnosis of hypertension .
he did not have a history of cardiac dysrhythmia , a prothrombotic diathesis or cerebrovascular disease .
following emergency admission to the intensive care unit with pulmonary oedema , oliguria and a serum creatinine of 10.2 mg / dl ( 899 mol / l ) , he was established on maintenance thrice weekly hd via a right internal... | stroke is a leading cause of death worldwide and is associated with significant morbidity in survivors .
early thrombolytic therapy in acute ischaemic stroke has been shown to dramatically improve patient outcomes .
although the age - adjusted incidence of stroke is 510 times greater in haemodialysis patients , the use of thrombolysis for this indication in this group of patients has not been described to date .
we present a case where alteplase was used successfully for acute ischaemic stroke in a patient established on maintenance haemodialysis in the setting of an international randomized controlled trial and advocate caution with the use of systemic thrombolytics despite the favourable outcome seen with this case . |
7,455 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: point spread function ( psf ) is used to define the quality of a retinal image .
when an eye is looking at a point source , the luminance distribution on the retina is called the psf .
the visual acuity corresponds to the central part of the psf ( 0~1 min of arc ) , and the outer part of the psf ( > 1 ) is the straylight .
straylight is caused by light that enters the eye and is scattered rather than focused on the retina .
straylight can create a veil of light over the retina , which can lead to halo , glare , hazy vision , and night blindness while driving [ 2 , 3 ] .
the cornea , iris , sclera , retina , and lens are the five major sources that contribute to intraocular straylight .
changes in intraocular straylight after cataract surgery are mainly caused by intraocular lenses ( iols ) .
although advances in iol design have improved postoperative visual outcomes , patients often complain of reduced contrast and glare after cataract surgery . a recent study on european drivers showed large variations in straylight values in pseudophakic eyes .
the iol material should be considered in studying the influence of intraocular straylight on pseudophakic eyes .
this study aims to determine whether there are differences among pmma , hydrophilic acrylic , and hydrophobic acrylic iols in perceived intraocular straylight .
patients who underwent cataract extraction with iol implantation may complain about dysphotopsia , entopic phenomena , and photic phenomena .
furthermore , we want to assess the differences among the various iol materials when the pupil is dilated with the iol edge exposed .
the c - quant straylight meter proposed by van den berg offers a convenient technique that uses the compensation comparison method .
moreover , cervio and guber both showed that c - quant possesses excellent reliability and high reproducibility [ 11 , 12 ] .
all the procedures followed the tenets of the declaration of helsinki and were approved by the local ethics committee .
we certify that all applicable institutional and... | purpose . to investigate the intraocular straylight value after cataract surgery
.
methods . in this study ,
76 eyes from 62 patients were subdivided into three groups .
a hydrophobic acrylic , a hydrophilic acrylic , and a pmma iol were respectively , implanted in 24 eyes , 28 eyes , and 24 eyes .
straylight was measured using c - quant at 1 week and 1 month postoperatively in natural and dilated pupils .
results .
the hydrophilic acrylic iols showed significantly lower straylight values than those of the hydrophobic acrylic iols in dilated pupils at 1 week and 1 month after surgery ( p < 0.05 ) .
however , the straylight values of the hydrophilic acrylic iols were the lowest among the three iol groups . no significant difference was observed in straylight between 1 week and 1 month postoperatively in each group with natural and dilated pupils ( p > 0.05 ) .
moreover , no significant difference was found in straylight between natural and dilated pupils in each group at 1 week and 1 month postoperatively ( p > 0.05 ) . conclusions .
although the hydrophobic acrylic iol induced more intraocular straylight , straylight differences among the 3 iols were minimal .
pupil size showed no effect on intraocular straylight ; the intraocular straylight was stable 1 week after surgery . |
7,456 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: primary sjogren 's syndrome ( pss ) is a relatively common autoimmune disease affecting 23% of the adult population .
undiagnosed pss presenting with severe hypokalemia and demyelination in the absence of dryness is rare but can occur in 27% .
a 36-year - old lady presented with weakness of upper and lower limbs progressing to complete inability to move her limbs over a 12-h period .
she did not report diplopia or urinary retention and denied any fever , neck pain , or trauma .
she was a homemaker , did not smoke and denied any alcohol or substance abuse .
she was diagnosed with postviral encephalomyelitis 3 years ago and treated with steroids with complete resolution of symptoms and signs .
she had normal menstrual cycles and had one spontaneous second trimester abortion 8 years ago .
she had one living child and had undergone tubal ligation after medical termination of pregnancy 4 months prior to this presentation . on evaluation , she was afebrile , normotensive with a respiratory rate of 25-breaths / min and resting pulse oximetry of 98% . there was flaring of alae nasi during quiet respiration .
mini - mental state examination was normal , and there was no evidence of cranial nerve deficits .
power was 2/5 on the medical research council scale in the proximal muscles of the upper limbs and 1/5 in the lower limbs throughout .
arterial blood gas showed combined respiratory and normal anion gap acidosis ( ph 7.23 , paco2 46 mmhg , pao2 88 mmhg , hco3 18 meq / l , chloride 105 meq / l , and corrected anion gap 10 meq / l ) .
she was electively intubated and ventilated for impending respiratory failure with deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis , enteral feeding , and evaluation for acute onset quadriparesis .
chest radiographs were normal , and electrocardiography showed prolonged pr interval , prominent u waves and t inversions .
meq / l ) and deranged renal function ( serum creatinine 2.1 mg / dl , normal 0.81.2 mg / dl and blood urea 60 mg / dl , normal 2040 mg / dl ) .
serum sodium , calcium , phosphate... | we present a middle - aged woman with a prior history of central nervous system ( cns ) demyelinating disorder who presented with an acute onset quadriparesis and respiratory failure .
the evaluation revealed distal renal tubular acidosis with hypokalemia and medullary nephrocalcinosis .
weakness persisted despite potassium correction , and ongoing evaluation confirmed recurrent cns and long - segment spinal cord demyelination with anti - aquaporin-4 antibodies .
there was no history of dry eyes or dry mouth .
anti - sjogren 's syndrome a antigen antibodies were elevated , and there was reduced salivary flow on scintigraphy .
coexistent antiphospholipid antibody syndrome with inferior vena cava thrombosis was also found on evaluation .
the index patient highlights several rare manifestations of primary sjogren 's syndrome ( pss ) as the presenting features and highlights the differential diagnosis of the clinical syndromes in which pss should be considered in the intensive care unit . |
7,457 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: reactive oxygen species ( ros ) are oxygen metabolites that are highly active in terms of oxidative modifications of cellular macromolecules including proteins , lipids , and polynucleotides .
superoxide radical ( o2 ) is usually the primal ros species produced and is subsequently converted into hydrogen peroxide ( h2o2 ) through spontaneous or superoxide dismutase ( sod)-catalyzed dismutation . and reaction of o2 and nitric oxide ( no ) generates peroxynitrite ( onoo ) , a ros and reactive nitrogen species ( rns ) species . of all cellular ros sources ,
electron leakage from the mitochondrial electron transfer chain ( etc ) to molecular oxygen generates a steady flux of o2 and thus constitutes the major site of cellular ros production [ 1 , 2 ] .
other enzymes , including nadph oxidases , lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase , cytochrome p450s , and xanthine oxidase , also participate in ros generation .
the cellular redox homeostasis is set by a delicate balance between ros production and the antioxidant system .
the ros - scavenging enzymes include sods , which convert o2 to h2o2 , and catalases , which convert h2o2 to water .
collectively , they form an antioxidant pool , while a third category of enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase catalyze the interconversion and equilibrium among the reduced / oxidized species of different reductants [ 4 , 5 ] .
when ros are produced excessively or endogenous antioxidant capacity is diminished , indiscriminate oxidation elicits harmful effects , resulting in oxidative stress .
mounting evidence has established strong links between oxidative stress and a wide variety of pathologies including malignant diseases , diabetes mellitus , atherosclerosis , ischemia reperfusion injury , and chronic inflammatory processes as well as many neurodegenerative diseases [ 3 , 614 ] .
moreover , the oxidative stress theory of aging states that systematic accumulation of oxidative damage from multiple ros sources constitutes the core process that drives the... | reactive oxygen species ( ros ) act as essential cellular messengers , redox regulators , and , when in excess , oxidative stressors that are widely implicated in pathologies of cancer and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases .
understanding such complexity of the ros signaling is critically hinged on the ability to visualize and quantify local , compartmental , and global ros dynamics at high selectivity , sensitivity , and spatiotemporal resolution .
the past decade has witnessed significant progress in ros imaging at levels of intact cells , whole organs or tissues , and even live organisms . in particular , major advances include the development of novel synthetic or genetically encoded fluorescent protein - based ros indicators , the use of protein indicator - expressing animal models , and the advent of in vivo imaging technology .
innovative ros imaging has led to important discoveries in ros signaling for example , mitochondrial superoxide flashes as elemental ros signaling events and hydrogen peroxide transients for wound healing .
this review aims at providing an update of the current status in ros imaging , while identifying areas of insufficient knowledge and highlighting emerging research directions . |
7,458 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: in modern society , the incidence of cervical lordosis and thoracic and lumbar kyphosis is
increasing , because many people maintain a fixed posture for long periods and number of aged
people is increasing .
an increase in thoracic kyphosis causes restrictions in chest
expansion and respiratory muscle weakness , thereby reducing lung capacity and the thoracic
cavity size and deforming vertebral column alignment1,2,3 .
previous studies have investigated the use of thoracic joint mobilization and thoracic
flexibility exercises to improve deformations of the chest and vertebrae and thereby enhance
pulmonary function1 , 4 .
these interventions enhanced pulmonary function and thoracic
mobility and improved respiratory muscle function , chest expansion , and diaphragm movement
by reducing the stiffness of the inter - vertebral discs and surrounding tissues and by
improving vertebral extensor muscle stretch and endurance with thoracic flexibility
exercises1 , 4 . as reported in previous studies , chest mobilization exercises and stretching exercises
increase thoracic vertebral mobility , chest expansion , and lung capacity .
however , these
exercises required firsthand therapeutic application by therapists and can not be easily
performed by the subjects in a non - clinical environment5
. therefore , the present study examined self - mobilization of thoracic vertebrae in healthy
adults and investigated the effect of these exercises on pulmonary function and chest
expansion .
the subjects of this study were 19 healthy adults who understood the purpose of the study
and provided written consent to participate .
those diagnosed with neurological findings and
had undergone operations , or were receiving surgical treatment , or taking medicines on a
regular basis to relieve pain , were excluded from the study .
the study was approved by the
ethics committee of the catholic university of pusan and adhered to the tenets of the
declaration of helsinki ( 1975 , revised 1983 ) .
the... | [ purpose ] the aim of this study was to determine the effects of thoracic region
self - mobilization on chest expansion and pulmonary function in healthy adults . [ subjects ]
nineteen healthy adults were randomly allocated to either an intervention group ( n = 8) or
a control group ( n = 11 ) .
[ methods ] subjects in the intervention group performed
self - mobilization of the thoracic region 3 times per week for 6 weeks ( 18 sessions ) .
the
outcome measures included chest expansion when breathing , pulmonary function , and
predicted pulmonary function .
[ results ] there was a significant difference in chest
expansion between the intervention group and the control group . however , there was no
significant difference in pulmonary function between the intervention group and the
control group .
[ conclusion ] thoracic region self - mobilization may be beneficial for
increasing chest expansion in healthy adults . |
7,459 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: ethylcellulose , a nonbiodegradable and biocompatible polymer , one of the extensively studied encapsulating materials for the controlled release of pharmaceuticals , was selected as the retardant material for propranolol hydrochloride .
ethylcellulose , a polymer to microencapsulate a drug by coacervation phase separation technique , emulsion solvent evaporation technique , and spherical crystallization technique .
eudragit rs and eudragit rl are biocompatible copolymers synthesized from acrylic and methacrylic acid ester having similar structure that differs only in the extent of the quaternary ammonium substitution and hence high water permeability and hydrophilicity in eudragit rl as compared to eudragit rs polymer .
it is a beta blocker and commonly used for the treatment of hypertension which affects nearly about 1020% of the population [ 3 , 4 ] .
the purpose of the present work was to prepare and evaluate oral sustained release microparticulate drug delivery system of propranolol hydrochloride using three different forms of polymers such as ethylcellulose , eudragit rs , and eudragit rl and to evaluate the drug release from microparticles prepared by hydrophobic emulsion solvent evaporation method ( o / o ) with a high entrapment capacity and extended release of the drug [ 5 , 6 ] .
various process and formulation parameters such as a drug polymer ratio and surfactant concentration were optimized to maximize the entrapment efficiency of the drug .
these microparticles were evaluated for encapsulation efficiency , drug content , and in vitro drug release .
drug - polymer interactions in the solid state were studied by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ( ftir ) ; the size and shape were evaluated by motic microscope .
the aim of the current work was to encapsulate propranolol hydrochloride with ethylcellulose , eudragit rs 100 , and rl 100 microparticles that were prepared by modified hydrophobic solvent evaporation techniques . 1 :
1 combination of acetone and isopropanol was used as an... | objective .
the purpose of the recent study was to prepare and estimate sustained release of ethylcellulose ( 300 cps ) and eudragit ( rs 100 and rl 100 ) microparticles containing propranolol hydrochloride used as a treatment of cardiovascular system , especially hypertension .
method .
propranolol hydrochloride was microencapsulated with different polymers ( ethylcellulose , eudragit rs , and eudragit rl ) using modified hydrophobic ( o / o ) solvent evaporation method using 1 : 1 combination of acetone and isopropanol as the internal phase .
obtained microparticles were showing higher batch yield with higher encapsulation efficiency .
microparticles were prepared with different ratios of 1 : 1 , 1 : 3 , 1 : 5 , and 1 : 7 ( % , wt / wt ) using span 80 ( % , v / v ) as a surfactant . results .
the influence of formulation factors like drug : polymer ratio , internal phase , and type of polymers on obtained microparticles was characterized with respect to particle size distribution , encapsulation efficiency , percentage yield , ftir , and fe - sem .
higher encapsulation efficiencies were obtained with various polymers like ethylcellulose ( 96.63 0.5 ) compared to eudragit rs 100 ( 83.70 0.6 ) and rl 100 ( 89.62 0.6 ) .
the in vitro release study was characterized by initial burst .
conclusion .
the result of study displays that ethylcellulose and eudragit loaded microparticles of propranolol hydrochloride can be effectively prepared using modified hydrophobic emulsification solvent evaporation technique .
therefore , the modified hydrophobic emulsion technique can also be applied to the preparation of microparticles for low molecular weight and highly water soluble drugs . |
7,460 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: preparation of solid dispersion of domperidone : domperidone inclusion complexes were prepared with -cd in different ratio ( 1:1 , 1:2 and 1:3 ) by kneading method
. preparation of fast dissolving films : solid dispersion of domperidone and -cyclodextrin ( 1:3 ) was selected and dispersed in half quantity of water and to it methanol is added along with tween-80 and heated at 60c . in other half quantity of water , hpmc e15
it is dried in oven at 60c for 5 hrs to obtain the film .
morphological properties : properties such as homogeneity , color , transparency and surface of the oral films were evaluated by visual inspection.film mass : the mass of three films were determined by an analytical balance and means.d was calculated.film thickness : film thicknesses were measured at five positions ( central and the four corners ) using the digital vernier caliper and the mean thickness was calculated.folding endurance study : it was measured manually by repeatedly folding a film at the same place till it broke.in vitro disintegration studies : the film as per the dimensions ( 3 2 cm ) required for dose delivery was placed on a stainless steel wire mesh placed in a petridish containing 10 ml phosphate buffer ph 6.8 .
time required for the film to break was noted as in vitro disintegration time.dissolution and drug release : dissolution test of films was performed using ( 900 ml ; phosphate buffer ph 6.8 with usp dissolution apparatus ii at 50 rpm and 370.5c temperature .
the drug release was analyzed spectrophotometrically at max 286.5 nm using ultraviolet ( uv ) spectrophotometer ( shimadzu model no : 1800 ) .
morphological properties : properties such as homogeneity , color , transparency and surface of the oral films were evaluated by visual inspection .
film mass : the mass of three films were determined by an analytical balance and means.d was calculated .
film thickness : film thicknesses were measured at five positions ( central and the four corners ) using the digital vernier caliper and the mean... | the present investigation was undertaken with the objective of formulating mouth dissolving film(s ) of the antiemetic drug domperidone to enhance the convenience and compliance by the elderly and pediatric patients .
domperidone is a drug of choice in case of nausea and vomiting produced by chemotherapy , migraine headaches , food poisoning and viral infections .
it causes dopamine ( d2 and d3 ) receptor blockage both at the chemoreceptor trigger zone and at the gastric level .
it shows high first pass metabolism which results in poor bioavailability ( 10 - 15% ) . in view of high first pass metabolism and short plasma half - life
it is an ideal candidate for rapid release drug delivery system .
the solid dispersions of domperidone were prepared with the use -cyclodextrin in various ratios ( 1:1 , 1:2 , 1:3 ) and solubility study was performed to determine the ratio in which solubility of domperidone was highest ( 1:3 ) .
the selected solid dispersions were then utilized for the preparation of film by solvent casting method utilizing hpmc e15 as a film forming agent and peg-400 as plasticizer .
five formulae were prepared and were evaluated for their in vitro dissolution characteristics , in vitro disintegration time , and their physico - mechanical properties .
the promising film ( f1 ) showed the greatest drug dissolution ( more than 75% within 15 min ) , satisfactory in vitro disintegration time ( 45 sec ) and physico - mechanical properties that are suitable for mouth dissolving films . |
7,461 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: several cognitive domains , including attention , memory , and executive functions are impaired in bipolar disorder ( 1 , 2 ) .
meanwhile , in recent decades , there has been an increasing tendency to study neurocognitive deficits like executive functions among researches ( 3 ) .
executive functions are a series of problem - solving tasks to achieve specific goals ( 4 ) , including abilities like attention , reasoning , planning , working memory , response inhibition , and interfering factors control .
disruption in these functions of often ten causes psychiatric or behavioral disorders , suggesting their important role in human complex behavior ( 5 ) .
executive functions are hypothesized in explanation of many disorders such as schizophrenia ( 6 ) , obsessive - compulsive disorder ( 7 ) , autistic disorder ( 8) , eating disorders ( 9 ) , panic disorder ( 10 ) , and posttraumatic stress disorder ( 11 ) .
in fact , quite enough studies have repeatedly shown that bipolar patients suffer from cognitive impairments both during acute phases ( 13 ) and remission / euthymic periods ( 14 , 15 ) .
( 12 ) on 26 studies ( 689 patients and 721 controls ) , suggested that aspects of executive function had a large effect size ( [ d 0.8 ] indicating marked impairment ) , whereas other cognitive domains , including response inhibition and set shifting had medium effect ( 0.5 d 0.8 ) , and finally verbal fluency , immediate memory , and sustained attention had small effect sizes ( 0.2 d 0.5 ) .
( 12 ) , which added studies on first - degree relatives provided the same results on cognitive impairments for euthymic patients and to lesser degrees , but still significantly different from healthy controls , for first - degree relatives ( 16 ) . because cognitive impairment appears to occur in the early stages of bipolar disorder and increases both during depressive episodes and after periods of mania
, some researches consider this defect as a state marker ( 17 , 18 ) .
other studies have shown that cognitive deficits... | background : several cognitive domains , including attention , memory , and executive functions are impaired in bipolar disorder.objectives:this study aimed to investigate two executive functions ( working memory and response inhibition ) in patients with bipolar i disorder during remission of the symptoms.patients and methods : in this case - control design , 30 bipolar i patients ( 18 to 45 years old ) were matched with 30 ones in the control group in terms of age , gender , and education .
the patients were selected from roozbeh psychiatric hospital ( a hospital affiliated to tehran university of medical sciences ) from may to october 2013 .
they were evaluated and contrasted using working memory ( spatial span and spatial working memory ( ssp and swm ) ) and response inhibition ( stop signal task ( sst ) ) tests.results:we used independent t - tests for comparing and contrasting 2 groups on total and sub - scales scores of these 3 tests . in terms of swm test there was a significant difference in between - group error between the two groups ( p = 0.05 ) ; there was also a meaningful difference between the strategies used by two groups ( p = 0.05 ) .
in ssp test , a significant difference appeared between averages of span length of the two groups . in the first and last item delays
, there was also a clear difference , but the total error index was not noticeably different .
in sst test , the direction error indicator in start - stop trials indicated a major difference , while in successful stops ratio , the case group had a lower ratio .
in addition , reaction time to stop signs in bipolar group was meaningfully lower than the control group.conclusion:in conclusion , even during remission phase , executive dysfunction is detectable at least in some areas in patients with bipolar disorder . |
7,462 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study:
chronic hepatitis c virus ( hcv ) infection remains a global health threat with 175 million carriers worldwide .
approximately 3% of the worldwide population is infected with the hepatitis c virus ( hcv ) .
the prevalence of hcv infection varies throughout the world , with the highest prevalence reported in egypt .
the natural targets of hcv are hepatocytes and , possibly , b lymphocytes [ 4 , 5 ] .
a new form of chronic hcv infection named occult hepatitis c virus ( oci ) was described by castillo et al . , 2004 .
this infection is characterized by absence of anti - hcv antibodies ( abs ) and hcv rna in serum with elevated liver function tests in the presence of hcv - rna in the liver .
furthermore , about 70% of patients with occult hcv infection also have hcv rna in their peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmcs ) ; the genomic and the antigenomic hcv rna have also been detected in these cells .
although detection of genomic hcv - rna strand in liver biopsy specimen is the gold standard and the most accurate method for the diagnosis of occult hcv infection , testing for hcv - rna in pbmcs is an alternative and easy to do when a liver biopsy is not available [ 8 , 9 ] .
lymphoproliferative disorders is a term that includes a wide spectrum of pathologies ranging from a minor expansion of a b - cell population ( with no clinical significance ) to an aggressive high - grade lymphoma .
such proliferations of b cells apparently can be triggered as a consequence of a chronic antigenic stimulation resulting from an hcv infection .
non - hodgkin lymphoma ( nhl ) is the hematologic malignancy with the highest prevalence worldwide .
incidence rates have grown fast up to the beginning of the new millennium , with an annual percentage increase of nearly 3% , which is faster than that for most cancers .
a causative association between hepatotropic viruses , especially hepatitis c virus , and malignant b - cell lymphoproliferative disorders has been demonstrated utilizing epidemiologic data , biologic and molecular... | background .
occult hepatitis c virus infection ( oci ) was identified as a new form of hepatitis c virus ( hcv ) , characterized by undetectable hcv antibodies and hcv rna in serum , while hcv rna is detectable in liver and peripheral blood cells only . aim .
the aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of oci in egyptian patients with lymphoproliferative disorders ( lpds ) and to compare its prevalence with that of hcv in those patients .
subjects and methods .
the current study included 100 subjects , 50 of them were newly diagnosed cases having different lymphoproliferative disorders ( patients group ) , and 50 were apparently healthy volunteers ( controls group ) .
hcv antibodies were detected by elisa , hcv rna was detected in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmcs ) by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(rt - pcr ) , and hcv genotype was detected by inno - lipa .
results .
oci was detected in 20% of patients group , compared to only 4% oci in controls group .
hcv was detected in 26% of patients group with a slightly higher prevalence .
there was a male predominance in both hcv and oci .
all hcv positive patients were genotype 4 . conclusion .
our data revealed occurrence of occult hcv infection in egyptian lpd patients at a prevalence of 20% compared to 26% of hcv . |
7,463 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: epithelial - mesenchymal transition ( emt ) plays an important role in cancer tumorigenesis . during the emt ,
epithelial cells change their polarized epithelial phenotype to a spindle - shaped , myofibroblast - like phenotype with high motility , and cancer cells increased cell migration and invasion , which are crucial to cancer prognosis .
the partial loss of e - cadherin is generally accepted as a hallmark of the emt , which reduces cell - cell adhesion and destabilizes the epithelial architecture .
moreover , vimentin bestows a motile phenotype to cancer cells through changes in cellular architecture and cell - matrix interactions .
further , many transcription factors , such as snail , act as repressors of e - cadherin and have been linked to the induction of the emt under different cellular contexts .
signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 ( stat3 ) is also involved in emt by regulating the transcriptional regulators of e - cadherin .
large studies indicated that the emt was induced by transforming growth factor 1 ( tgf-1 ) in various cancer cells .
reported that tgf-1 was overexpressed in anaplastic thyroid cancer , and they found that knockdown of tgf-1 could inhibited cell proliferation and colony formation , and promoted apoptosis in anaplastic thyroid cells .
park et al . found that tgf-1 promotes cancer immune escape , and that it promoted cell proliferation , colony formation , and inhibited apoptosis .
tgf- is known to activate akt through pi3k , which in turn activates the mtor complex 1 ( mtorc1 ) .
the activation of mtorc1 affects cell growth , proliferation , and invasion by modulating protein synthesis through its downstream effector , eukaryotic translation initiation factor p70 s6 kinase .
recently , studies reported that sorafenib combined with a mammalian target of rapamycin ( mtor ) inhibitor was a more effective and tolerable treatment strategy for advanced hcc .
inhibition of the mtor pathway reduced migration and invasion ability , and knockdown of mtorc1 induced... | backgroundepithelial - mesenchymal transition ( emt ) plays an important role in cancer tumorigenesis . transforming growth factor 1 ( tgf-1 )
can induced emt , which could increase tumor migration and invasion .
moreover , recent studies have been proven that mammalian target of rapamycin ( mtor ) is a critical regulator of emt .
we investigated the mechanisms of mtor in transforming growth factor 1 ( tgf-1)-induced emt in cervical cancer cells.material/methodshela and siha cells were treated with 10 ng / ml tgf-1 to induce emt .
then , they were treated with or without rapamycin .
cck8 assay was performed to determine cell proliferation .
cell migration was detected by wound - healing assay ; apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry ; mtor inhibitors inhibited mtor pathway to assess the expression of e - cadherin , vimentin stat3 , snail2 , p - p70s6k , and pkm2 expression.resultstgf-1 promoted proliferation and migration , and attenuated apoptosis in cervical carcinoma cells .
rapamycin abolished tgf-1-induced emt cell proliferation and migration and reversed tgf-1-induced emt .
e - cadherin were suppressed , whereas vimentin and pkm2 were increased in hela and siha cells after stimulation with tgf-1 .
moreover , mtor was activated in the process of tgf-1-induced emt .
rapamycin inhibited the phosphorylation of p70s6k .
furthermore , inhibition of the mtor pathway decreased pkm2 expression.conclusionsinhibition of the mtor pathway abolished tgf-1-induced emt and reduced mtor / p70s6k signaling , which downregulated pkm2 expression .
our results provide novel mechanistic insight into the anti - tumor effects of inhibition of mtor . |
7,464 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: in order to arrive at their conclusion that infanticide is morally permissible , giubilini and minerva espouse a personistic ethic .
briefly , this is the view that human beings do not have any inherent dignity in virtue of their humanity .
merely being human is not in itself a reason for ascribing value to someone . on the contrary
, human beings get their value from their status , understood in technical terms , as
persons. accordingly they announce : the moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual . both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons , but neither is a
person in the sense of subject of a moral right to life. we take
person to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some ( at least ) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her .
this means that many non - human animals and mentally retarded human individuals are persons , but that all the individuals who are not in the condition of attributing any value to their own existence are not persons . merely being human is not in itself a reason for ascribing someone a right to life .
the moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual . both a fetus and
a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons , but neither is a person in the sense of subject of a moral right to life. we take
person to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some ( at least ) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her .
this means that many non - human animals and mentally retarded human individuals are persons , but that all the individuals who are not in the condition of attributing any value to their own existence are not persons .
merely being human is not... | alberto giubilini and francesco minerva 's recent infanticide proposal is predicated on their personism and actualism . according to these related ideas , human beings
achieve their moral status in virtue of the degree to which they are capable of laying value upon their lives or exhibiting certain qualities or being desirable to third - party family members .
this article challenges these criteria , suggesting that these and related ideas are rely on arbitrary and discriminatory notions of human moral status .
our propensity to sleep , fall unconscious , pass out and so on , demonstrates that we often exhibit our status as
potential persons who are not in the condition of attributing any value to their own existence .
our abilities , age and desirability can and do fluctuate .
the equal dignity principle , distinguished in turn from both the excesses of vitalism and consequentialism , is analysed and defended in the context of human rights logic and law .
the normalisation of non- and involuntary euthanasia , via such emerging practices as the self - styled groningen protocol , is considered .
substituted consent to the euthanasia of babies and others is scrutinised and the implications of institutionalising non - voluntary euthanasia in the context of financial , research and political interests are considered .
the impact on the medical and legal professions , carers , families and societies , as well as public attitudes more generally , is discussed .
it is suggested that eroding the value of human life carries with it significant destructive long - term implications . to elevate some , often short - term , implications while ignoring others demonstrates the irrational nature of the effort to institutionalise euthanasia . |
7,465 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: a 10-month - old domestic shorthair cat was evaluated for severe esophagitis and protracted vomiting and regurgitation secondary to a sliding ( type i ) hiatal hernia .
the hernia and concurrent upper airway obstruction ( nasopharyngeal polyp ) were diagnosed with a multi - modality approach , including thoracic and abdominal radiographs , abdominal ultrasound , computed tomography and endoscopy . following unsuccessful attempts at medical management ,
lower esophageal incompetence was successfully treated by employing a combination of surgical techniques , including herniorrhaphy , esophagopexy and modified ( floppy ) nissen fundoplication .
a multi - modality imaging approach was valuable in completely assessing the extent of this cat s disease . although an untraditional approach , the authors report herein the first clinical description of the use of combined surgical techniques with the floppy nissen fundoplication technique ( an antireflux procedure ) in a cat .
this procedure was used as a first - line surgical technique in this cat with severe lower esophageal incompetence , and may be a viable option for cases non - responsive to other therapeutic interventions . further investigation of this surgical technique is warranted .
hiatal hernia , defined as protrusion of abdominal contents through the esophageal hiatus into the thorax , is a complex entity in humans and animals , with a multifactorial etiology and pathophysiology .
the latter leads to decreased movement resistance of the gastric cardia from the abdomen to the thorax .
intrinsic and extrinsic components of the lower esophageal sphincter prevent regurgitation of gastric contents . disruption or displacement of the lower esophagus or gastroesophageal junction
a 10-month - old male intact , 1.4 kg , domestic shorthair cat was evaluated for chronic vomiting and poor body condition despite polyphagia .
clinical signs began at 10 weeks of age and included lethargy , fever , stunted growth and abdominal distention occurring within minutes of... | case summarya 10-month - old domestic shorthair cat was evaluated for severe esophagitis and protracted vomiting and regurgitation secondary to a sliding ( type i ) hiatal hernia .
the hernia and concurrent upper airway obstruction ( nasopharyngeal polyp ) were diagnosed with a multi - modality approach , including thoracic and abdominal radiographs , abdominal ultrasound , computed tomography and endoscopy . following unsuccessful attempts at medical management ,
lower esophageal incompetence was successfully treated by employing a combination of surgical techniques , including herniorrhaphy , esophagopexy and modified ( floppy ) nissen fundoplication.relevance and novel informationa multi - modality imaging approach was valuable in completely assessing the extent of this cat s disease .
although an untraditional approach , the authors report herein the first clinical description of the use of combined surgical techniques with the floppy nissen fundoplication technique ( an antireflux procedure ) in a cat .
this procedure was used as a first - line surgical technique in this cat with severe lower esophageal incompetence , and may be a viable option for cases non - responsive to other therapeutic interventions . further investigation of this surgical technique is warranted . |
7,466 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the current criteria for diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( als ) require neurophysiological evidences of ongoing denervation , defined by fibrillation potentials ( fibs ) or positive sharp waves , and of chronic partial reinnervation , involving enlarged , unstable motor units with a reduced interference pattern .
fibs are detected as long as denervation - reinnervation processes take place , and their assessment is considered a sensitive method to evaluate disease progression and a useful research tool ( see , for instance , ) . at later stages of disease they fade owing to replacement of muscle fibres with fibrous tissue . in mammalian denervated muscle fibres , fibrillations arise because spontaneous activation of voltage - gated na ( nav ) channels triggers action potentials and contractions .
disappearance of fibs has been reported in one als patient receiving fentanyl and propofol during surgery , two anaesthetics that block nav channels [ 7 , 8 ] .
riluzole is a well - established blocker of neuronal nav channels , but it also affects other channels in nonneuronal tissues , for instance , muscle acetylcholine receptor channels [ 912 ] .
riluzole also causes a mild block of recombinant and native muscular voltage - gated na current ( ina ) [ 10 , 13 ] , although at concentrations higher than those attained in patients ' plasma . in myotubes
given these premises , riluzole might affect fibs in als patients , but this point has received little attention to date , even if riluzole is the only approved drug for als treatment .
therefore , we undertook a study of riluzole action on fibs , aimed at filling this gap .
human muscle satellite cells can be cultured in vitro in the absence of nerve , and myotubes adequately represent denervated muscle fibres . moreover , satellite cells in vitro preserve traces of their in vivo environment including denervation - induced alterations .
satellite cells derived from als patients display a reduced myogenic potential but form multinucleated myotubes (... | denervated muscles undergo fibrillations due to spontaneous activation of voltage - gated sodium ( na+ ) channels generating action potentials
. fibrillations also occur in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( als ) .
riluzole , the only approved drug for als treatment , blocks voltage - gated na+ channels , but its effects on muscle na+ channels and fibrillations are yet poorly characterized . using patch - clamp technique , we studied riluzole effect on na+ channels in cultured myotubes from als patients .
needle electromyography was used to study fibrillation potentials ( fibs ) in als patients during riluzole treatment and after one week of suspension .
patients were clinically characterized in all recording sessions . in myotubes ,
riluzole ( 1 m , a therapeutic concentration ) reduced na+ current by 20% . the rate of rise and amplitude of spikes evoked by depolarizing stimuli were also reduced .
fibs were detected in all patients tested during riluzole treatment and riluzole washout had no univocal effect .
our study indicates that , in human myotubes , riluzole partially blocks na+ currents and affects action potentials but does not prevent firing . in line with this in vitro finding , muscle fibs in als patients appear to be largely unaffected by riluzole . |
7,467 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: | a review of the literature indicated an association among high nitrate ingestion , methemoglobinemia , and pathologic changes in bronchi and lung parenchyma .
the present study examined a possible correlation among drinking water nitrate concentration , methemoglobin levels , cytochrome b(5 ) reductase activity , and acute respiratory tract infection with a history of recurrence ( rrti ) .
our study was conducted in five village units in the state of rajasthan , india , with nitrate concentrations of 26 , 45 , 95 , 222 , and 459 mg no(3 ) ion / l .
we randomly selected 88 children .
the children were up to 8 years of age , age matched , and represented 10% of the total population of these areas .
we obtained detailed rrti histories and conducted medical examinations .
methemoglobin levels and cytochrome b(5 ) reductase activity were estimated biochemically .
the data collected were statistically analyzed using spreadsheet software on a personal computer .
we observed strong interdependence between methemoglobin levels and rrti in children up to 8 years of age .
methemoglobin levels alone explained 80% of the variation in the rrti cases .
this study indicates that methemoglobinemia , secondary to high nitrate ingestion in drinking water , causes rrti .
increased production of methemoglobin and free radicals of nitric oxide and oxygen due to nitrate metabolism in the body lead to alveolar damage and mismatching of ventilation and perfusion , which may be the reason for high mortality in children due to rrti.imagesfigure 1 |
7,468 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: heparina , a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan , has the highest negative charge density of any known natural biological molecule .
heparin has been extensively used as an injectable anticoagulant in many clinical procedures for the prevention of blood clotting , especially during open heart surgery [ 2 , 3 ] .
pharmaceutical - grade heparin is derived from mucosal tissues of slaughtered meat animals such as porcine intestine and bovine lung .
native heparin is a polymer with a molecular weight ranging from 3,000 to 50,000 , and the average molecular weight of most commercially prepared heparin is in the range of 12,000 to 15,000 . under physiological conditions ,
the sulfate groups are deprotonated and attract positively charged counterions ( usually sodium ) to form a heparin salt .
it is in this form that heparin is usually administered as an anticoagulant [ 5 , 6 ] . at the end of the medical procedure , the heparin has to be rendered inactive to prevent possible bleeding problems .
therefore , clinicians need to know the exact concentration of heparin remaining when they attempt to neutralize the anticoagulant activity of heparin via precise doses of protamine . the current heparin detection method used in hospital
is based on the blood clotting time [ 7 , 8 ] and varies widely due to variation in the blood content of the different individuals .
thus , the discovery of accurate , rapid , reliable safe , and low - cost methods of heparin detection remains an important area of sensor research .
for example , electrochemical sensors [ 9 , 10 ] and optical sensors [ 11 , 12 ] were intensively studies in the 1990s , and more recent studies have focused on fluorescent spectroscopy [ 13 , 14 ] and uv / vis spectroscopy using gold nanoparticles .
luminescence spectroscopy is an analytical method that studies the luminescence emission from a chromophore after their electrons are excited from the ground state to a higher energy level .
one of the most attractive features of luminescence spectroscopy as an... | the luminescence characteristics of six osmium carbonyl complexes with phenanthroline ( phen ) or bipyridine ( bpy ) and pyridine ( py ) , 4-phenylpyridine ( 4-phpy ) , or triphenylphosphine ( pph3 ) complexes in the presence of polyanion heparin were studied in both ethanol and aqueous solutions .
the influence of heparin on the luminescence of the complexes is heavily dependent on the type of ligands in the complexes and the solvent used . in the ethanol solutions , the heparin solution enhanced the luminescence of the five osmium complexes , with the strongest enhancement to the 4-phenylpyridine complexes ;
linear curves were obtained in the luminescence enhancement ratio ( f / f
0 ) versus the heparin concentration range of 140 g / ml . in aqueous solutions , heparin quenching of the complexes was more significant ; a linear quenching curve was obtained with [ os(phen)2co(pph3)](pf6)2 in the lower concentration range of 112 g / ml . the interaction of these complexes with heparin in the solutions is discussed .
the complexes are shown to be successful in the fast and sensitive detection of heparin in commercial injectable samples . |
7,469 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: functional dyspepsia ( fd ) is a syndrome characterized by chronic and recurrent gastroduodenal symptoms in the absence of any organic or metabolic disease that is likely to explain the symptoms.1,2 fd is considered to be important to public health , because it is remarkably common , can be disabling , and can pose a major social and economic burden.3 since fd is a highly heterogeneous disorder , numerous pathophysiological mechanisms , such as gastroduodenal motor dysfunction , visceral hypersensitivity , central nervous system dysfunction , helicobacter pylori ( h. pylori ) infection and psychosocial factors have been suggested to play a role in the development of fd .
although numerous epidemiological trials have suggested a higher prevalence of h. pylori infection in fd patients , the results have been conflicting.4 results of a meta - analysis showed that the prevalence of h. pylori infection was greater in patients with dyspepsia than in controls , with an odds ratio of 2.3 ( 95% ci , 1.9 - 2.7).5 although this result seems to support the role of h. pylori infection in the pathogenesis of dyspepsia , it appears that some of the studies that were included in the analysis were biased by the selection of controls not properly matched for age , socioeconomic status and ethnic background.4 however , recent studies have revealed a subset of patients who developed fd after an episode of gastrointestinal infection .
these studies , proposing the concept of post - infectious fd , suggest that an inflammation - immunological circuit also plays an important role in the development of fd.6 it is generally well - recognized that the major cause of gastroduodenal inflammation is h. pylori infection.7 since h. pylori induces activation of a complex and fascinating cytokine and chemokine network in the gastric mucosa,8 it is of little surprise that h. pylori infection has been implicated in the pathogenesis of dyspepsia .
for this reason , one of the major research interest is the difference between h. pylori -... | advances in basic and clinical research have revealed that helicobacter pylori ( h. pylori ) infection plays an important role in the development of gastroduodenal dysmotility and hypersensitivity , as also in dyspepsia symptoms .
in addition , recent studies have proposed an inflammation - immunological model for the pathogenesis of functional dyspepsia .
since h. pylori is the major microbe that provokes a gastroduodenal inflammatory response , it should not be overlooked when considering the pathophysiology of dyspepsia symptoms .
in fact , population - based studies have demonstrated that h. pylori is detected more frequently in dyspepsia patients .
however , although many clinical studies tried to reveal the association of h. pylori infection with gastric motility dysfunction or hypersensitivity , the results have been conflicting . on the other hand , many etiological features were revealed for the development of h. pylori - associated dyspepsia , such as abnormal ghrelin or leptic secretion , altered expression of muscle - specific micrornas , and duodenal inflammatory cell infiltration .
in addition , therapeutic strategy for h. pylori - associated dyspepsia would be different from h. pylori - negative functional dyspepsia . this review focuses the issue of whether h. pylori - associated dyspepsia should be considered as a different disease entity from functional dyspepsia . |
7,470 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: a septic patient is in your intensive care unit and you are concerned that he is behind on his intravascular volume . for a variety of reasons you have decided you would like to give him intravenous colloids .
frdrique schortgen and laurent brochard capillary leakage during sepsis is a reason for recommending the use of macromolecules that could preserve the colloid osmotic pressure ( cop ) .
the high cost of albumin has facilitated the widespread use of hydroxyethylstarches ( he s ) .
outcome studies on sepsis are scarce , and the reasons why we should use he s remain speculative or based on short - term physiological data .
we will briefly describe how uncertain are the clinical benefits of these products and , by contrast , how strong is the evidence for numerous adverse effects .
both crystalloids and colloids have a similar ability to achieve sufficient volume loading when the volume administered takes into account the capacity of the solution to remain in the intravascular space . to achieve an equivalent plasma volume expansion ,
a fourfold greater volume of crystalloid may be needed in comparison with 5% albumin . maintaining cop by administration of he
one study including septic patients found a higher incidence of pulmonary oedema after crystalloids than after he s .
most clinical results have been disappointing , however , and a meta - analysis showed that pulmonary oedema occurrence is similar with colloids or crystalloids . indeed , in the context of a free course of macromolecules across a damaged alveolocapillary membrane , the starling equation indicates that colloidal forces can no longer stop fluid shift .
an attractive , although unproven , pharmacological effect of he s comes from experimental studies suggesting that he s could improve microcirculation .
boldt and colleagues found a better intramucosal ph in patients receiving he s in comparison with albumin , but two recent studies in septic hypovolaemic patients showed that he s did not improve splanchnic circulation whereas gelatins did... | there are few issues in critical care medicine that have a less clearly defined standard of care than the intravenous fluid choice for resuscitation .
natural colloids ( such as albumin ) became popular during the second world war when there was a need to develop a portable , easily stored , blood substitute .
early successes led to widespread use and a multibillion dollar industry .
it is not surprising given the large demand , high costs and potential adverse effects of natural colloids that synthetic colloids have emerged . in the present article , two groups of clinical investigators remind us of the controversies surrounding the use of synthetic colloids . |
7,471 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: ten healthy volunteers participated in the study ( 9 females and 1 male , age : 2236 ) .
the study was approved by the central denmark region committees on biomedical research ethics ( m-20100032 ) . written informed consent was obtained from the participants following oral and written information about the study . the exclusion criteria and the design of the in situ model
all participants wore an individually designed acrylic splint in the lower jaw in which four custom - made non - fluorescent glass slabs with a surface roughness of 1,200 grit ( menzel , braunschweig , germany ) had been inserted into the buccal flanges of each side for biofilm collection ( 17 ) .
the glass slabs were sterilized by autoclaving before being inserted into recessions in the splint with sticky wax ( densply , weybridge , uk ) .
the volunteers wore the splint during two 48-h experimental periods , each beginning at 8 am . during the first experimental period , the volunteers removed the splint every 2 h during daytime ( eight times a day ) and immersed the right - side flange in physiological saline for 2 min ( sucrose - free group ) and the left - side flange in a 4% sucrose solution for 2 min ( sucrose group ) , the latter to imitate a situation where the individual consumes a diet rich in fermentable carbohydrates . based on studies by imfeld ( 8) , a concentration of 4% sucrose was chosen to achieve ph drops within the optimal ph range of the ph - sensitive probe ( ph=4.57 ) ( 16 ) .
fresh solutions were provided for each day of the experiment . during the second experimental period , the volunteers repeated the procedure described above but immersed the left - side flange in physiological saline ( sucrose - free group ) and the right - side flange in the sucrose solution ( sucrose group ) . at the end of each experiment ,
the glass slabs were removed from the splints and stored at room temperature in humid containers until microscopic analysis ( < 6 h ) . for methodological reasons ,
for each participant ( n=10 ) and for... | background and objectiveph in dental biofilms is of central importance for the development of caries .
we used the ratiometric ph - sensitive dye c - snarf-4 in combination with digital image analysis to monitor extracellular ph in dental biofilms grown in situ with and without sucrose supply.designdental biofilms ( 48 h ) from 10 individuals were collected on glass slabs mounted on intra - oral appliances . during growth , appliances were immersed extra - orally in either physiological saline or 4% sucrose for 2 min , eight times per day .
fluorescence emissions of c - snarf-4 in deep layers of the biofilms were recorded ex vivo with confocal microscopy for 15 min or for 1 h after exposure to 0.4% glucose .
extracellular ph was determined ratiometrically using digital image analysis.resultsextracellular ph dropped rapidly in most examined sites after addition of glucose .
distinct ph microenvironments were observed within single biofilms .
the variation in ph was similar between sites within the same biofilm and sites from different individuals .
ph drop patterns did not differ between biofilms exposed to sucrose - free and sucrose - rich environments.conclusionthe present study is the first of its kind to apply the combination of ph ratiometry and digital image analysis to systematically record extracellular ph in intact dental biofilms from several individuals for up to 1 h. we observed highly heterogeneous ph landscapes and the presence of acidogenic microenvironments
acidogenic hotspots within the biofilms .
the data suggest that ph drops in young ( 48 h ) dental biofilms are independent of the sucrose supply during growth . |
7,472 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: delivery is a natural and physiologic process , but a painful and exhausting phenomenon both for mother and those who care her .
this process constitutes a very important physiologic event of woman 's life with significant physical , mental , and emotional effects .
delivery is accompanied by pain , mental stress , probable physical injuries , and rarely , death .
midwives are responsible to provide care and support for delivery of mothers in non - complicated deliveries .
quality and the way of providing midwifery cares are among the factors affecting childbirth outcome .
midwife 's functions and actions during this critical stage of woman life may lead to different outcomes ranging from life to death and from heath to physical injuries , with significant effects on the mental and emotional health of mother and child .
delivery care is a process that aims to maintain the health of mothers and children and facilitates their normal growth and development later in life . according to yanger
these indications are introduced as five valuable cs including communication , condolence , continue , commitment , and courage . in conventional delivery
cares within delivery departments , generally a midwife is responsible for providing care for several delivering women and she mostly needs to do clinical care including monitoring of fetal heart rate and progress of delivery , prescribing drugs , recording delivery data , etc .
precise observational studies in several hospitals have shown that in most of the cases , the women are left alone during delivery and the midwives only spend one - fourth of their time in the bedside of women in delivery room ( this time is very short for establishing a continuing and sympathetic relationship with delivering woman ) , while being alone during delivery causes fear , anxiety , and forlornness in the delivering women .
commission of health care in 2007 announced based on a review that 46% of women are left alone during labor , which causes worry in them . in the aforementioned... | background : continuation of delivery care by a midwife , and establishing a relationship between the midwife and the delivering woman , is so important for women , and preserving such relationship increases woman 's calmness and self - confidence .
the current research aims at studying the effect of midwifery continuing care during delivery on delivery outcomes.materials and methods : this study was a quasi - experimental research conducted on childbearing women referring to tabriz 29 bahman hospital .
one hundred women were randomly assigned to either experimental ( n = 50 ) or control ( n = 50 ) group . in the experimental group ,
the women were cared exclusively with a midwife from the active phase continuously , while in the control group , women were cared with several midwifes conventionally .
the birth outcomes were recorded in both valid and reliable groups ( checklists ) .
data were analyzed using spss version 13.0.results:type of delivery was the same in both the groups ( p = 0.051 ) . in the experimental group , grade of the perineal lacerations was lower ( p = 0.001 ) ; also , in this group , less oxytocin was used in the labor stage ( p = 0.001).conclusions : the results showed that providing one - to - one delivery care and continuous attendance of the midwife on the bedside of delivering woman had positive effect on improvement of birth outcomes .
so , providing the choice of one - to - one care for women in delivery rooms must be considered where it is logistically possible . |
7,473 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: injection use is one of the most important medical procedures used globally , mostly for administration of drugs and immunization . in a developing country like india
unsafe injection practices put patients and healthcare providers at risk of infectious and noninfectious adverse events and have been associated with a wide variety of procedures and settings .
an injection is said to be safe if it does not harm the recipient , does not expose the provider to avoidable risk , and does not result in wastes that is dangerous for the community .
injuries caused by needle sticks and sharps due to unsafe injection practices are the most common occupational hazard amongst health care personnel worldwide .
the health care workers include doctors , nurses , laboratory technicians , dentists , phlebotomists , and refuse workers .
the national institute of occupational safety and health ( niosh ) defines needle stick injury ( nsi ) as injuries that are caused by needles such as hypodermic needles , blood collection needles , intravenous ( iv ) stylets and needles used to connect part of iv delivery systems .
the world health organization estimates that about 3 million needle stick injuries occur every year with 90% occurring in developing countries .
these needle stick injuries pose a serious health problem particularly for transmission of blood borne viruses like hiv , hepatitis b , and hepatitis c. the risk of hiv transmission without prophylaxis is 0.3% from percutaneous injury . for unvaccinated healthcare workers , the risk from single needle sticks or cut exposure to hbv - infected blood ranges from 6 to 30% , depending on the hepatitis b antigen status of the source individual . who estimates that annually 21 million hepatitis b infections , 2 million hepatitis c infections , and 260,000 hiv / aids cases
may be caused by reuse of syringes and needles without sterilization accounting for 40% , 32% , and 5% , respectively .
an effective vaccine is available against hepatitis b infection but none is available... | injuries caused by needle sticks and sharps due to unsafe injection practices are the most common occupational hazard amongst health care personnel . the objectives of our study were to determine the existing knowledge and practices of interns and change in their level following an information education and communication ( iec ) package regarding safe injection practices and related biomedical waste management and to determine the status of hepatitis b vaccination .
we conducted a follow - up study among all ( 106 ) interns in a tertiary care teaching hospital , delhi .
a predesigned semistructured questionnaire was used .
iec package in the form of hands - on workshop and power point presentation was used .
a highly significant ( p < 0.001 ) improvement in the knowledge of interns was observed after intervention with respect to the three criteria of a safe injection and cleaning of injection site .
thus , the baseline knowledge of interns was good in certain aspects of injection safety , namely , diseases transmitted by unsafe injections and their prevention .
we conclude that iec intervention package was effective in significantly improving the interns ' knowledge regarding safe injection practices and biomedical waste management .
almost two - thirds of interns were immunised against hepatitis b before the intervention and this proportion rose significantly after the intervention . |
7,474 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: it implies tolerance to the semiallogeneic fetus , which possesses half maternal genes and half paternal genes .
the more genetically distinct the fetus is , the greater the immunological tolerance becomes during pregnancy .
this occurs during pregnancies by egg donation ( ed ) , when the fetus is allogenic .
such tolerance also intervenes in modulating pregnancy - related pathologies , including preeclampsia . as it complicates up to 8% of pregnancies , preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity .
adverse perinatal outcomes , such as prematurity and intrauterine growth restriction , are related to this condition .
preeclampsia is a pregnancy - specific disease characterized by the development of both hypertension and proteinuria .
. moreover , african - american and filipino women and a low socioeconomic status are associated with increased risk .
although the precise etiology of the disorder is still unknown , deficient early placentation is particularly associated with early onset preeclampsia .
in fact , abnormal placentation is thought to be immunologically mediated [ 2 , 3 ] . as prevention and prediction of preeclampsia
are still not possible , symptomatic clinical management should focus on preventing maternal morbidity ( e.g. , generalised seizures of eclampsia ) and mortality . from the epidemiological viewpoint
, there is a higher incidence of pregnancy - induced hypertension in pregnancy by ed , which oscillates between 16% and 40% of all cases .
compared to pregnancy by autologous in vitro fertilization ( ivf ) , the prevalence of hypertensive complications is 2637% as opposed to 8% , with an odds ratio ( or ) of 7.1 for the ed group .
furthermore , the incidence of pregnancy - induced hypertension is higher in ed - pregnant women , who are not related to the donor and have not been previously exposed to the donor 's sperm [ 35 ] .
the aim of this review is to analyze the maternofetal immunological tolerance phenomenon and its possible relation with... | maternofetal immune tolerance is essential to maintain pregnancy . the maternal immunological tolerance to the semiallogeneic fetus becomes greater in egg donation pregnancies with unrelated donors as the complete fetal genome is allogeneic to the mother .
instead of being rejected , the allogeneic fetus is tolerated by the pregnant woman in egg donation pregnancies .
it has been reported that maternal morbidity during egg donation pregnancies is higher as compared with spontaneous or in vitro fertilization pregnancies .
particularly , egg donation pregnancies are associated with a higher incidence of pregnancy - induced hypertension and placental pathology .
preeclampsia , a pregnancy - specific disease characterized by the development of both hypertension and proteinuria , remains the leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity .
the aim of this review is to characterize and relate the maternofetal immunological tolerance phenomenon during pregnancies with a semiallogenic fetus , which are the spontaneously conceived pregnancies and in vitro fertilization pregnancies , and those with an allogeneic fetus or egg donation pregnancies .
maternofetal immune tolerance in uncomplicated pregnancies and pathological pregnancies , such as those with preeclampsia , has also been assessed .
moreover , whether an inadequate maternal immunological response to the allogenic fetus could lead to a higher prevalence of preeclampsia in egg donation pregnancies has been addressed . |
7,475 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: ultrasound is routinely used to evaluate small breast masses . a large proportion of these small masses
are benign but unfortunately many go to biopsy or excision despite benign imaging characteristics . utilizing our case of adult male pilomatrixoma , we discuss the work - up of small breast masses , focusing on ultrasound characteristics , and stress conservative management if the typical benign sonographic features are present . despite a very low propensity for malignant degeneration ,
surgical excision is the treatment of choice for pilomatrixomas , mainly for symptomatic and cosmetic reasons in a pediatric population .
given the age , location , and low chance of malignant degeneration , conservative management may be considered in rare case of pilomatrixoma of the adult breast .
a 53-year - old male presented with a painless hard palpable pea - sized lump , in the right breast , near the nipple .
a referral for mammography was made as the man had a strong family history of breast cancer with two sisters diagnosed at ages 42 and 50 .
diagnostic mammography showed a well - circumscribed , oval - shaped mass of the medial right breast , with smooth borders , and multiple small punctuate calcifications [ figure 1 ] .
gray - scale ultrasound examination revealed a small superficial isoechoic well - marginated oval mass parallel to the skin , with smooth borders , and multiple hyperechoic foci corresponding to calcifications seen on mammogram [ figure 2 ] .
the lesion appeared benign on ultrasound examination , but given the patient 's concern and a strong family history of breast cancer , a core biopsy was performed .
the patient remained anxious about malignancy despite this benign diagnosis , so the mass was excised two months later with an unchanged pathologic diagnosis .
mediolateral oblique view of mammogram demonstrates a small well - circumscribed oval mass just underneath a radiopaque skin marker in the medial right breast near the nipple .
a gray - scale ultrasound image of the lesion shows a... | pilomatrixomas are uncommon benign skin neoplasms arising from the hair follicle matrix .
they occur more commonly in children than adults .
most originate on the head , neck , or upper extremities , less commonly on the trunk or lower extremities , and very infrequently in the breast .
we present a rare case of pilomatrixoma of the breast in an adult male . as the patient had a strong family history of breast cancer , a full work - up of the breast mass
was performed .
ultimately , an excisional biopsy was carried out for patient reassurance . |
7,476 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: endovascular therapy for cerebral vascular diseases has expanded in both the variety and number of devices . conventionally , an animal vascular model is used for initial testing of new devices.1
2 to date , swine and dog models have been reported.3 however , animal experiments are labor intensive and expensive
. fresh human placenta on the other hand is relatively easy to obtain from hospitals with obstetrics service .
although the placenta has been widely used in biomedical research,4
5 its application in neurointerventional research has not been found in the literature .
we now report on the preliminary applications of human placenta as an ex vivo vascular model in this rapidly expanding research field .
written consent for donation of placenta for research was obtained from the mother before the baby was delivered . eighteen placentas were obtained during the period 20112013 for various vascular interventions .
after cleansing with normal sterile saline solution to remove any blood adhered to the placenta surface , the amnion sac was peeled off from the chorion and removed by sharp dissection at the cord insertion , thus exposing the chorionic plate vessels on the chorion surface .
the umbilical cord was shortened to about 10 cm to allow easy catheterization of the umbilical arteries and vein .
a 5 french gauge straight tip diagnostic catheter or size 16 venous puncture catheter was used to catheterize the umbilical arteries .
a pressurized intra - arterial infusion bag was used to delivery heparinized saline solution into the placental arteries ( figure 1a ) .
a motorized pump was used to simulate pulsation of the vessels . a solution of heparin in normal saline was used to irrigate the specimen until the vessels were free of blood clots . by taking advantage of the semitransparent nature of the placental vessels , direct observations of changes within the blood vessels and the behavior of catheters , clot and devices under a leica oh5 neurosurgical microscope ( wetzlar , germany ) with high... | backgroundhuman placenta is a convenient resource for biomedical research , and has not yet been used for neurointerventional surgery research.objectiveour objective was to explore the feasibility of using human placenta to test various endovascular interventions and for training.design18 placentas soon after delivery were prepared for six pilot studies .
( 1 ) study on anatomical similarity to human cerebral vessel .
( 2 ) simulation of stent assisted coiling and flow diversion on an aneurysm model . ( 3 ) simulation of intra - arterial thrombolysis . ( 4 ) simulation of embolization of arteriovenous malformation with glues . ( 5 ) simulation of mechanical thrombolysis and comparison of different devices . ( 6 ) vascular model for training of neurointerventionalists.resultswhen the chorionic plate vessels were compared with the cerebral cortical vessels , similarities were found in vascular branch patterns , histological cross sections , and angiographic appearances . due to
the semitransparency of its vessel wall , performance of flow diverter and stent assisted coiling of an aneurysm could be visualized under direct microscopic observation .
similarly , timing of clot lysis and glue polymerization could be estimated .
endothelial change after thrombectomy could be assessed by histological methods . from these pilot studies
, the placenta model could be adopted to simulate various clinical situations .
it is also ideal for interventional radiology training.conclusionsit is feasible to adopt the human placenta as an ex vivo vascular model in neurointerventional surgery research due to the fact that its vessels resemble the brain vasculature . |
7,477 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: one of every five children aged less than 5 years in low - income , developing countries is malnourished . globally , undernutrition is associated with more than one - third of all deaths in this age group .
acute malnutrition defined by weight - for - height z - score ( whz ) < 2 ( i.e. , wasting ) in young children continues to be a major health problem in low - income countries , particularly bangladesh . despite recent advances in prevention and management of childhood malnutrition in bangladesh , 16% of children under 5 years of age are acutely malnourished ( whz <
childhood malnutrition places a heavy burden on many families in bangladesh and other developing countries .
it not only directly increases mortality but also imposes significant national health and development costs due to associated morbidities , including impaired cognitive ability and indirect deaths .
it is well documented that poverty and malnutrition , regardless of location , are highly intertwined .
although risk factors for malnutrition have been identified , individual factors potentially change in specific areas over time and a current characterisation of risk factors provides the basis for preventative intervention programmes .
the study was conducted in the dhaka hospital of the international centre for diarrhoeal disease research ( icddr , b ) situated in dhaka , bangladesh , a metropolitan area ( 1,500 sq km ) with a total population of ~15 million .
each year , the dhaka hospital provides care and treatment for over 120,000 patients with diarrhoea , with or without other associated health problems .
the hospital also conducts research on enteric and other common infectious diseases as well as undernutrition and provides training on case management of diarrheal diseases , management of malnutrition , and research methodology . under - five children
constitute about 60% of the total patient population and most ( ~60% ) are from poor socioeconomic communities in urban and periurban areas of dhaka .
a nonmatched case - control... | to assess the risk factors for acute malnutrition ( weight - for - height z - score ( whz ) < 2 ) , a case - control study was conducted during june
september 2012 in 449 children aged 659 months ( 178 with whz < 2 and 271 comparing children with whz 2 and no edema ) admitted to the dhaka hospital of icddr , b in bangladesh .
the overall mean sd age was 12.0 7.6 months , 38.5% ( no difference between case and controls ) .
the mean sd whz of cases and controls was 3.24 1.01 versus 0.74 0.95 ( p < 0.001 ) , respectively .
logistic regression analysis revealed that children with acute malnutrition were more likely than controls to be older ( age > 1 year ) ( adjusted or ( aor ) : 3.1 , p = 0.004 ) ; have an undernourished mother ( body mass index < 18.5 ) , ( aor : 2.8 , p = 0.017 ) ; have a father with no or a low - paying job ( aor : 5.8 , p < 0.001 ) ; come from a family having a monthly income of < 10,000 taka , ( 1 us$ = 80 taka ) ( aor : 2.9 , p = 0.008 ) ; and often have stopped predominant breastfeeding before 4 months of age ( aor : 2.7 , p = 0.013 ) .
improved understanding of these characteristics enables the design and targeting of preventive - intervention programs of childhood acute malnutrition . |
7,478 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: transplants of the retina are among the new strategies being used in the treatment of genetic and degenerative macular diseases . moreover ,
literature dated from 2004 to 2011 was comprehensively examined via medline and pubmed searches for the following terms : auto- , homo- , heterologous transplantation , retina , stem cells , cultivated cells .
tissue and cell therapy of retinal diseases are reviewed , including full - thickness retina / retinal pigment epithelium ( rpe)/choroid graft ; full and partial thickness rpe / choroid complex grafts ; rpe / bruch membrane complex graft ; and rpe , iris pigment epithelium and stem cell grafts .
recommendations for transplants , as well as the benefits and weaknesses of specific techniques in retina transplants , are discussed .
auto- and allogenic transplants of a full or partial thickness retina / rpe / bruch membrane / choroid complex represent an alternative treatment offered to patients with some macular diseases .
stem cell transplantation to reconstruct and regenerate the macula requires further biomolecular and animal research studies .
genetic and degenerative retinal diseases currently present scientific and ophthalmological challenges . in the united states ,
approximately 6 million people have retinal diseases , in particular from retinopathies such as age - related macular degeneration ( amd ) , diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa [ 13 ] .
amd accounts for 75% of cases of legal blindness in people over the age of 50 years in all industrialized countries .
photodynamic therapy or intravitreal anti - vascular endothelial growth factor ( vegf ) injections represent the first line of wet amd treatment , but are of limited efficacy [ 48 ] .
implantation of electronic chips to stimulate the brain , as well as transplantation of donor tissue and cells , are new therapeutic strategies currently being explored to reconstruct the photoreceptor / retinal pigment epithelium ( rpe ) complex and to restore central vision in different retinopathies [ 1114 ]... | summarybackgroundtransplants of the retina are among the new strategies being used in the treatment of genetic and degenerative macular diseases . moreover ,
various cell cultures are being tested to treat retinal disorders.material/methodsliterature dated from 2004 to 2011 was comprehensively examined via medline and pubmed searches for the following terms : auto- , homo- , heterologous transplantation , retina , stem cells , cultivated cells.resultstissue and cell therapy of retinal diseases are reviewed , including full - thickness retina / retinal pigment epithelium ( rpe)/choroid graft ; full and partial thickness rpe / choroid complex grafts ; rpe / bruch membrane complex graft ; and rpe , iris pigment epithelium and stem cell grafts .
recommendations for transplants , as well as the benefits and weaknesses of specific techniques in retina transplants , are discussed.conclusionsauto- and allogenic transplants of a full or partial thickness retina / rpe / bruch membrane / choroid complex represent an alternative treatment offered to patients with some macular diseases . stem cell transplantation to reconstruct and regenerate the macula requires further biomolecular and animal research studies . |
7,479 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: pulmonary cryptococcosis is a type of fungal infection , initiated by inhalation of the organism , cryptococcus neoformans , from an environmental source ( 1 ) .
it most commonly occurs in immunocompromised hosts , such as human immunodeficiency virus ( hiv)-infected or cancer patients , and rarely involves the immunocompetent hosts ( 1 , 2 ) .
imaging features , associated with pulmonary cryptococcosis , which mimic hematogeneous metastases , are rare in immunocompetent patients .
to our knowledge , this is a rare presentation of pulmonary cryptococcosis with computed tomography ( ct ) characteristics of hematogeneous lung metastases , and it 's valuable to show the pathologic correlation with positron emission tomography ( pet ) scan .
a 49-year - old man was admitted with a complaint of dry cough over the last two weeks , and pulmonary nodules were incidentally found on his chest radiography ( fig .
1a ) at our outpatient department . due to the pulmonary nodules of unknown cause , ct of the chest was arranged .
multiple well - defined nodules ( number : more than 10 ) were observed in both lungs ( fig .
each nodule differed in size , ranging from 4 mm to 12 mm ; moreover , the nodules were randomly distributed in every lobe , accompanied by minimal pleural effusions .
no recent travel history was noted . the physical examination and all the laboratory tests presented no remarkable findings .
however , tumor markers , such as carcinoembryonic antigen , squamous cell carcinoma antigen , and prostate - specific antigen were all detected to be in the normal range .
the gastroscopy and colonoscopy also showed within normal findings . after failing to find any possible primary malignancy , we arranged a whole body 18f - fluorodeoxyglucose ( fdg ) pet scan to evaluate the possible primary malignancy
our preoperative diagnosis of hematogeneous lung metastases was based on the presence of multiple pulmonary nodules of varying sizes , which distributed randomly throughout the lung ; however , the findings of the... | the radiologic appearance of multiple discrete pulmonary nodules in immunocompetent patients , with cryptococcal infection , has been rarely described .
we describe a case of pulmonary cryptococcosis , presenting with bilaterally and randomly distributed nodules on a computed tomography , mimicking hematogeneous metastases .
positron emission tomography does not demonstrate 18f - fluorodeoxyglucose ( fdg ) uptake , suggesting a low probability for malignancy , which is a crucial piece of information for clinicians when making a management decision .
we find the absence of fdg uptake correlates with the pathologic finding of an infectious nodule , composed of fibrosis and necrosis . |
7,480 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: congestive heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries , with an estimated prevalence of 1% to 2% in the general population , reaching 7% to 8% in individuals aged > 75 years.1 elevated blood pressure appears to play an important role in the pathogenesis of both left ventricular ( lv ) systolic and diastolic dysfunction , at least partly by increasing cardiac afterload.2 this has led to the therapeutic concept of reducing cardiac afterload , which has proven highly beneficial in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction but not in heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction.3 thus , broadening the understanding of the role of central hemodynamics in the pathogenesis of systolic and diastolic lv dysfunction is critical to inform the development of novel therapeutic approaches .
blood pressure is routinely measured at the brachial artery , whereas the actual cardiac pressure load is determined by the hemodynamics in the proximal aorta .
this is a relevant distinction , as central pulse pressure may differ from brachial pulse pressure , particularly in younger adults , due to agerelated differences in central pressure augmentation .
the extent to which central pressure augmentation is explained by peripheral wave reflection or by the windkessel function of the proximal aorta is the subject of ongoing debate.4 , 5
limited data suggest that central pressure may be more closely related to cardiovascular disease than peripheral blood pressure.6 furthermore , variable relations between aortic stiffness ( which increases early systolic load on the heart ) and wave reflection ( which increases late systolic load ) may have differing implications for systolic and diastolic lv structure and function.7 in contrast , the steady component of blood pressure , ie , the mean arterial pressure , is fairly constant throughout large arteries.8
in this context , the relations of central hemodynamics with cardiac structure and function have not been fully delineated .
we... | backgroundthe differing relations of steady and pulsatile components of central hemodynamics and aortic stiffness with cardiac dimensions and function have not been fully elucidated.methods and resultscentral hemodynamics and carotidfemoral pulse wave velocity ( cfpwv , a measure of aortic stiffness ) were measured by arterial tonometry in 5799 participants of the framingham heart study ( mean age 51 years , 54% women ) and related to echocardiographic left ventricular ( lv ) dimensions and systolic and diastolic function using multivariableadjusted partial pearson correlations .
mean arterial pressure ( map , steady component of central blood pressure ) was associated positively with lv wall thickness ( r=0.168 ; p<0.0001 ) but showed only a weak direct association with lv diastolic dimension ( r=0.035 , p=0.006 ) .
central pulse pressure ( pulsatile component of central blood pressure ) showed a direct correlation with both lv diastolic dimension and lv wall thickness ( r=0.08 and 0.044 , both p<0.0001 in multivariable models that included map ) .
cfpwv was not associated with lv structure ( all p0.27 ) in mapadjusted models ) .
both map and cfpwv were associated inversely with lv diastolic function ( e ; r=0.140 and 0.153 , respectively ; both p<0.0001 ) , and these associations persisted after additional adjustment for lv mass and central pulse pressure ( r=0.142 and 0.108 , both p<0.0001 ) . map and cfpwv were not associated with lv fractional shortening ( p0.10 ) , whereas central pulse pressure was positively related ( r=0.064 , p<0.0001).conclusionspulsatile and steady components of central pressure are conjointly yet variably related to lv structure .
cfpwv is related to lv diastolic function but not to systolic function .
additional studies are warranted to confirm these observations . |
7,481 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: measurement of disease activity is critical for longitudinal assessments in both observational studies and clinical trials . in the field of rheumatology ,
more than 250 assessment tools have been developed and validated to evaluate pathology , symptoms , function , and health status of patients with rheumatic diseases .
such instruments should be compatible with regulatory requirements of the food and drug administration ( fda ) and generally require prospective studies for completion of the validation process .
igg4-related disease ( igg4-rd ) is an increasingly recognized immune - mediated disease that is characterized by a lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate enriched with igg4-positive plasma cells and a distinctive storiform fibrosis of affected organs .
commonly involved organs include the pancreas , biliary tree , orbits , salivary glands , and retroperitoneum , among many others .
the serum igg4 level is often but not always elevated . because of the novelty of igg4-rd , little effort to date has been devoted to the development of outcome measures for this newly recognized condition .
a disease responder index is a tool designed to detect any changes in disease activity and identify improvement and worsening in the same and/or different organ systems .
a responder index permits objective quantification of the treatment response by providing standardized outcome measures .
assessing clinical response and not simply serologic response is increasingly important to establish endpoints in randomized control trials .
glucocorticoids are the standard first - line treatment for igg4-rd and patients whose disease has not reached an advanced stage of fibrosis generally respond well to this treatment , at least initially .
the first is the complex , multiorgan system nature of this disease , which makes it difficult to summarize the state of disease activity across all organs .
the second is the fact that the stage of disease activity can differ across organs , such that a patient can have active inflammation likely to... | igg4-related disease ( igg4-rd ) is a multiorgan inflammatory disease in which diverse organ manifestations are linked by common histopathological and immunohistochemical features .
prospective studies of igg4-rd patients are required to clarify the natural history , long - term prognosis , and treatment approaches in this recently recognized condition .
patients with igg4-rd have different organ manifestations and are followed by multiple specialties .
divergent approaches to the assessment of patients can complicate the interpretation of studies , emphasizing the critical need for validated outcome measures , particularly assessments of disease activity and response to treatment .
we developed a prototype igg4-rd responder index ( igg4-rd ri ) based on the approach used in the development of the birmingham vasculitis activity score for wegener 's granulomatosis ( bvas / wg ) .
the igg4-rd ri was refined by members of the international igg4-rd symposium organizing committee in a paper case exercise .
the revised instrument was applied retrospectively to fifteen igg4-rd patients at our institution .
those scores were compared to physician 's global assessment scale for the same visits .
this paper describes the philosophy and goals of the igg4-rd ri , the steps in the development of this instrument to date , and future plans for validation of this instrument as an outcome measure . |
7,482 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study:
the cell morphodynamics underlying the processes that control the organized spatial distribution of cells during the embryonic development are nowadays largely unknown .
a single fertilized egg - cell ( zygote ) undergoes cellular divisions , differentiations , and interactions giving rise to specific forms of tissues and organs .
the reconstruction of the nuclei shape and the identification of their number and position during embryogenesis are an essential tool for an integrated understanding of such morphogenetic processes .
this kind of information is relevant to estimate the cell growth and identify cell divisions and apoptosis .
it is a helpful tool to extract parameters such as the cell proliferation rate in time and space .
it is relevant for investigating stem cells populations and early steps of cancerogenesis , opening the way for the preclinical evaluation of anticancer drug effects in vivo .
we apply in this paper a region - based segmentation algorithm to segment the nuclei in a live zebrafish embryo .
since during the acquisition the embryo is growing up , the cell number strongly increases .
furthermore , since prior and during mitosis the nuclei condense and lengthen along the future cell division plane , the segmentation is a helpful tool to identify cell divisions .
we consider and compare two different forms of the equation originally proposed by chan and vese .
comparison is performed through qualitative and quantitative analysis of results on both phantoms and real data .
we then apply to our dataset the formulation that ensures the best performances . in the rest of the paper
we introduce the active contour model without edges and both tested formulations . in section 4
the zebrafish ( danio rerio ) is a model organism extensively studied to explore the gene function and vertebrate development [ 27 ] and might soon become a major model organism for preclinical drug testing by pharmaceutical industries .
although distant from humans , nevertheless it has comparable organs and... | this paper is devoted to the segmentation of cell nuclei from time lapse confocal microscopy images , taken throughout early zebrafish embryogenesis .
the segmentation allows to identify and quantify the number of cells in the animal model .
this kind of information is relevant to estimate important biological parameters such as the cell proliferation rate in time and space .
our approach is based on the active contour model without edges .
we compare two different formulations of the model equation and evaluate their performances in segmenting nuclei of different shapes and sizes .
qualitative and quantitative comparisons are performed on both synthetic and real data , by means of suitable gold standard .
the best approach is then applied on a number of time lapses for the segmentation and counting of cells during the development of a zebrafish embryo between the sphere and the shield stage . |
7,483 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: avian influenza ( ai ) is a highly contagious disease caused by type a influenza viruses , a member of the family orthomyxoviridae .
influenza a viruses have antigenically related nucleocapsid and matrix proteins but are classified into subtypes on the basis of their haemagglutinin ( h ) and neuraminidase ( n ) antigens .
although fouchier et al . reported the presence of 16 h and 9 n subtypes of influenza a viruses , recent studies [ 3 , 4 ] have identified additional h17n10 and h18n11 subtypes in bats .
many species of domestic and wild birds worldwide have been shown to be susceptible to infection with avian influenza viruses ( aivs ) , with aquatic birds constituting a major reservoir of these viruses which have particularly been reported to occur in poultry in either the highly pathogenic or low pathogenic forms ; the overwhelming majority of isolates are of low pathogenicity for chickens and turkeys [ 5 , 6 ] .
specifically , turkeys are susceptible to a wide range of influenza a viruses and , as a major exception to the host range restriction rule , are routinely infected with swine - like influenza viruses .
infections in turkeys range from asymptomatic to severe disease including respiratory tract disease , depression , drop in egg production , and high mortality [ 7 , 8 ] .
the segmented nature of the influenza virus genome allows for reassortment of genes when a susceptible host is coinfected with different influenza virus subtypes , which may be from different species .
this interspecies transmission of influenza viruses has been reported by several authors [ 912 ] .
influenza viruses with novel combinations of gene segments from different influenza - susceptible species have been isolated from turkeys [ 12 , 13 ] , which have been indicated to be more susceptible to ai infections than chickens . although h3- and h5-subtype influenza viruses are known to infect avian and mammalian species , including humans [ 15 , 16 ] , the h3-subtype viruses are usually not the subject of conventional... | since the first outbreak of avian influenza ( ai ) in nigeria in 2006 , there has been continuous monitoring of the disease in chickens with little attention given to turkeys . as part of on - going surveillance for ai in southwest nigeria , we used a competitive elisa to detect anti - ai virus antibodies in 520 turkey sera obtained from poultry farms in oyo , osun , and ondo states while haemagglutination inhibiting antibodies against low pathogenic ai viruses ( lpaivs ) were detected using h3n8 and h5n2 subtype - specific antigens .
the overall seroprevalence obtained by elisa was 4.4% ( 23/520 ) .
of the 23 elisa - positive samples , 18 were positive for anti - aiv h3n8 antibodies only and four were positive for both anti - aiv h3n8 and h5n2 antibodies indicating a mixed infection , while five were negative for antibodies to either of the two aiv subtypes .
considering that turkeys have been implicated as a mixing vessel for generating influenza virus reassortants of human and avian origin , the detection of antibodies to lpaiv h3n8 and h5n2 in these turkeys is of public health concern .
we advocate further studies to determine the potential role of turkeys in the zoonotic transmission of aivs in nigeria .
additionally , the practice of rearing turkeys with chickens should be discouraged . |
7,484 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: bioflavonoids are a
group of polyphenolic compounds that are common
throughout the plant kingdom . they are widely studied and have been
found to promote healthy living in epidemiologic studies .
much of the attention that bioflavonoids have attracted is due mainly
to the french paradox .
this is the
dietary anomaly in which people in the mediterranean culture have
a higher fat intake but a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease
and increased longevity .
one of the most widely studied bioflavonoids is , epigallocatechin-3-gallate
( egcg ) , the most abundant polyphenol in green tea .
it has been studied
extensively during the past decade for its therapeutic potential in
various cancers , alzheimer s disease , obesity , and diabetes . despite these promising therapeutic uses , the plasma concentrations
of egcg that are required are prohibitively high .
thus , novel methods
for improving the oral bioavailability of egcg are desirable . in a
previous study
, we demonstrated that proprietary nanolipidic particles
could be used to improve the bioactivity of egcg for reducing amyloid
beta production in a cell model of alzheimer s disease while
also more than doubling the oral bioavailability .
although this could potentially overcome the problems thwarting
the clinical translation of egcg , the technology is limited because
it requires an alcohol suspension .
until now there have been
no reports of any of the crystalline
forms of egcg in the cambridge structural database ( csd ) including
the crystal structure of pure egcg which makes it worth studying from
a structural perspective .
therefore , we undertook the synthesis of
cocrystals of egcg and also crystallized its pure form .
this was accomplished
by taking advantage of crystal engineering concepts and several crystallization
techniques .
cocrystal formers ( ccfs ) , has emerged over the
past decade as a materials science approach to generate novel solid
forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients with... | the
most abundant polyphenol in green tea , epigallocatechin-3-gallate
( egcg ) , has recently received considerable attention due to the discovery
of numerous health - promoting bioactivities . despite reports of its
poor oral bioavailability
, egcg has been included in many dietary
supplement formulations .
conventional preformulation methods have
been employed to improve the bioavailability of egcg .
however , these
methods have limitations that hinder the development of egcg as an
effective therapeutic agent . in this study
, we have utilized the basic
concepts of crystal engineering and several crystallization techniques
to screen for various solid crystalline forms of egcg and evaluated
the efficacy of crystal engineering for modulating the pharmacokinetics
of egcg .
we synthesized and characterized seven previously undescribed
crystal forms of egcg including the pure crystal structure of egcg .
the aqueous solubility profiles of four new egcg cocrystals were determined .
these cocrystals were subsequently dosed at 100 mg egcg per kg body
weight in rats , and the plasma levels were monitored over the course
of eight hours following the single oral dose .
two of the egcg cocrystals
were found to exhibit modest improvements in relative bioavailability .
further , cocrystallization resulted in marked effects on pharmacokinetic
parameters including cmax , tmax , area under curve , relative bioavailability , and apparent
terminal half - life .
our findings suggest that modulation of the pharmacokinetic
profile of egcg is possible using cocrystallization and that it offers
certain opportunities that could be useful during its development
as a therapeutic agent . |
7,485 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: ancient infection of germline cells with exogenous retroviruses established a genome - wide random embedment of proviruses , called endogenous retroviruses ( ervs ) , and mendelian genetics governs their inheritance to the offsprings .
ervs are reported to exist in the genome of all vertebrates and constitute approximately 8% of the human genome and 10% of the mouse genome [ 24 ] .
the majority of ervs identified so far are reported to be defective primarily based on their inability to encode intact polypeptides for gag ( group specific antigen ) , pol ( reverse transcriptase ) , and env ( envelope ) genes , which are essential for the retroviral life cycle .
however , recent studies identified a number of ervs , which retain intact coding potentials for gag , pol , and/or env genes , and some of them are reported to be associated with a range of normal physiology ( e.g. , placental morphogenesis ) as well as pathogenic processes ( e.g. , multiple sclerosis , schizophrenia , injury , and chronic fatigue syndrome ) [ 610 ] . on the other hand , biology of porcine ervs ( pervs ) has been studied extensively because of the potential transmission of pervs to humans as an adverse side effect of xenotransplantation .
the env glycoproteins of certain human ervs ( hervs ) have been implicated in diverse disease processes [ 1216 ] .
for instance , the env glycoproteins of herv - k , herv - e , and erv-3 were characterized as tumor - associated antigens in different types of cancer [ 1518 ] .
the herv - w env glycoprotein , called syncytin-1 , is highly expressed in glial cells within central nervous system of multiple sclerosis , an autoimmune disease , patients .
it is proposed that potent proinflammatory properties of syncytin-1 contribute to neuronal inflammation and resultant damage to oligodendrocytes during the progression of multiple sclerosis . on the other hand , syncytin-1 and herv - frd env glycoprotein , called syncytin-2 ,
are reported to play an essential role during embryonic development by... | envelope ( env ) proteins of certain endogenous retroviruses ( ervs ) participate in various pathophysiological processes . in this study , we characterized pathophysiologic properties of two murine leukemia virus - type erv ( mulv - erv ) env genes cloned from the ovary of c57bl/6j mice .
the two env genes ( named envov1 and envov2 ) , with 1,926 bp coding region , originated from two mulv - erv loci on chromosomes 8 and 18 , respectively .
envov1 and envov2 were ~75 kda and predominantly expressed on the cell membrane .
they were capable of producing pseudotype murine leukemia virus virions .
tropism trait and infectivity of envov2 were similar to the polytropic env ; however , envov1 had very low level of infectivity .
overexpression of envov2 , but not envov1 , exerted cytotoxic effects and induced expression of cox-2 , il-1 , il-6 , and inos .
these findings suggest that the envov1 and envov2 are capable of serving as an env protein for virion assembly , and they exert differential cytotoxicity and modulation of inflammatory mediators . |
7,486 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: fcs was used to determine the
relative affinity of -syn100 for large unilamellar
vesicles ( luvs ) composed of 100%
popg or 1:1 ( mol / mol ) pg : pc under dilute conditions .
binding of fluorescently
labeled protein to unlabeled vesicles results in a shift in the autocorrelation
curves to the right ( longer diffusion times ) ( figure 1a ) ; the autocorrelation curves can then be fit to extract
the fraction of bound protein and to determine an apparent binding
affinity , kd ( see materials and methods
in the si for details ) .
these measurements
found that -syn100 binds to 100% popg vesicles with
60 times greater affinity than to 1:1 pg : pc vesicles ( kd = 2.25 and 136.9 m , respectively ) under
our buffer conditions .
this result agrees with previous studies showing
that -syn100 binding to lipids is driven primarily
by electrostatic interactions between anionic lipid headgroups and
positively charged lysine residues in the membrane - binding region
of the protein , although the
complex roles of hydrophobic lipid protein interactions and
entropy can not be ruled out .
( a ) fcs traces for -syn100 in the absence ( black )
or presence of equal concentrations of 1:1 pg : pc ( blue ) or 100% popg
( red ) luvs .
the greater shift to the right in the 100% popg curve
reflects a larger fraction of -syn100 bound relative
to the 1:1 pg : pc curve .
( b ) -syn100 tubulation capacities
for 1:1 pg : pc and 100% popg at equal bound density , compared with
buffer .
the inset shows the corresponding absorbance traces for systems
with 1:1 pg : pc or 100% popg and buffer or -syn100 . in order to test the effect of
headgroup charge on -syn100-induced tubulation at
equal bound - protein density , we adjusted
the added protein concentration on the basis of the measured kd value . again , because of our previous measurements
under saturating conditions , this ensured equal density of bound protein . the ability of -syn100 to
tubulate liposomes was assayed by monitoring... | we have investigated
the membrane remodeling capacity of the n - terminal
membrane - binding domain of -synuclein ( -syn100 ) . using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and vesicle clearance
assays ,
we show that -syn100 fully tubulates popg
vesicles , the first demonstration that the amphipathic helix on its
own is capable of this effect .
we also show that at equal density
of membrane - bound protein , -syn has dramatically reduced affinity
for , and does not tubulate , vesicles composed of a 1:1 popg : popc mixture .
coarse - grained molecular dynamics simulations suggested that the difference
between the pure popg and mixture results may be attributed to differences
in the protein s partition depth , the membrane s hydrophobic
thickness , and disruption of acyl chain order . to explore the importance
of these attributes compared with the role of the reduced binding
energy , we created an -syn100 variant in which we
removed the hydrophobic core of the non - amyloid component ( nac ) domain
and tested its impact on pure popg vesicles .
we observed a substantial
reduction in binding affinity and tubulation , and simulations of the
nac - null protein suggested that the reduced binding energy increases
the protein mobility on the bilayer surface , likely impacting the
protein s ability to assemble into organized pretubule structures .
we also used simulations to explore a potential role for interleaflet
coupling as an additional driving force for tubulation .
we conclude
that symmetry across the leaflets in the tubulated state maximizes
the interaction energy of the two leaflets and relieves the strain
induced by the hydrophobic void beneath the amphipathic helix . |
7,487 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: fibrillary glomerulonephritis ( fgn ) , a rare glomerular disease was first described in 1977 .
this rare entity is characterized by the presence of elongated , nonbranching randomly arranged microfibrils ( 1030 nm ) in the mesangium and/or glomerular capillary wall .
ultrastructurally , the microfibrils seen in fgn are indistinguishable from amyloid fibrils however differ from amyloid by its larger size and lack of reactivity to reagents that detect amyloid including congo red .
different histological patterns of glomerular injury have been described in the kidney biopsy series of fgn including mesangioproliferative , membranoproliferative , membranous , diffuse sclerosing , and rarely endocapillary proliferative and crescentic .
clinically , fgn presents commonly with hypertension , proteinuria , hematuria , and renal insufficiency .
a recent single - institution study of 66 cases with fgn showed a mean serum creatinine of 2.1 mg / dl at the time of kidney biopsy ; however , one - third of cases had normal range serum creatinine levels ( 1.2 mg / dl ) .
rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis ( rpgn ) is a rare clinical syndrome that is associated with extensive crescent formation surrounding 50% of glomeruli on kidney biopsy .
we present an interesting adult case of fgn who presented with renal failure and massive proteinuria secondary to crescentic glomerulonephritis .
we also review the few cases of fgn presenting as rapidly progressive or advanced renal failure and crescentic glomerulonephritis that have been reported in the literature .
a 66-year - old caucasian female presented to the emergency room ( er ) with 4-week history of intermittent abdominal pain , nausea , vomiting , and poor oral intake .
nephrology consultation was called for an evaluation of increased creatinine ( 17.54 mg / dl ) found on laboratories performed in the er . serum creatinine performed approximately 4 months prior to the er visit was within normal range ( 1.24 mg / dl ) .
her medication included amlodipine , benazepril ,... | fibrillary glomerulonephritis ( fgn ) is a rare primary glomerular disease that commonly presents clinically with hypertension , proteinuria , microscopic hematuria , and varying degree of renal insufficiency .
histologically , fgn can present with different patterns of glomerular injury , more commonly mesangioproliferative , membranoproliferative , and membranous nephropathy .
while crescent formation has been described in some kidney biopsy series of fgn , crescentic glomerulonephritis pattern of glomerular injury has been rarely described .
optimal therapy and outcomes in fgn presenting with crescentic gn is not currently known .
we report an adult patient who presented with massive proteinuria and severe renal failure .
the kidney biopsy revealed crescentic fgn ( c - fgn ) .
the patient remained dialysis dependent despite immunosuppressive therapy .
we also briefly review fgn , and the few reported cases of c - fgn that presented as rapidly progressive or advanced renal failure in the literature . |
7,488 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: coagulase - negative staphylococci ( cons ) , especially staphylococcus epidermidis , are considered as normal epithelial flora of every human in different parts of the body such as nares , head and axilla , with an essential role in maintaining the normal flora of healthy skin ( 1 ) .
s. epidermidis is also recognized as an important opportunistic pathogen in nosocomial infections , particularly in indwelling medical device users and contaminant agent of blood cultures .
nosocomial infection with s. epidermidis should be more complicated when bacteria are resistant to beta - lactam antibiotics such as methicillin .
these bacteria are common causes of nosocomial infections worldwide in immunocompromised patients or patients who carry indwelling devices ( 2 ) . reduced affinity for beta - lactam antibiotics in methicillin - resistant staphylococci mediates by a penicillin - binding protein ( pbp2a ) encoded by meca gene located in staphylococcal chromosome cassette mec ( sccmec ) .
furthermore , it is believed that s. epidermidis acts as a reservoir for meca and transfers it to s. aureus by horizontal gene transfer .
recent data indicate that not only meca , but also other mobile genetic elements can be transferred from s. epidermidis to s. aureus ( 3 ) .
the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of s. epidermidis as well as antibiotic susceptibility pattern and meca prevalence in s. epidermidis isolated from intensive care unit ( icu ) patients .
a cross - sectional study was conducted from september 2010 to september 2011 . a collection of 184 coagulase - negative staphylococci isolated from blood ( n = 135 ) , urine ( n = 17 ) , tracheal ( n = 19 ) , wound ( n = 6 ) , cerebrospinal fluid ( csf ) ( n = 2 ) , pleural fluid ( n = 2 ) , synovial fluid ( n = 2 ) , and peritoneal fluid ( ascitic fluid ) ( n = 1 ) , from three different teaching hospitals of tehran , iran , was included in this study
the sample was enriched in tryptic soy broth , and grown on mannitol salt agar , then catalase ,... | background : coagulase - negative staphylococci ( cons ) , especially staphylococcus epidermidis , are considered as normal flora of human epithelia and also important opportunistic pathogens for nosocomial infections .
s. epidermidis can also act as a reservoir for meca , responsible for high - level resistance to methicillin and transferring it to s. aureus.objectives:the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of s. epidermidis as well as antibiotic susceptibility pattern and meca prevalence in s. epidermidis isolated from intensive care unit ( icu ) patients.materials and methods : a cross - sectional study was conducted from september 2010 to september 2011 and 184 coagulase - negative staphylococci were collected from different clinical samples in three hospitals .
s. epidermidis was identified by conventional bacteriological tests .
antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using disk diffusion method .
frequency of meca was detected by specific pcr.results:frequency of s. epidermidis was 34.8% , the most susceptibility was seen to linezolid and vancomycin , and the least susceptibility was seen to tetracycline.majority of the s. epidermidis isolates carried meca ( 92.2% ) .
the most common resistant pattern was trimethoprim - sulfamethoxazole , tetracycline , erythromycin , and methicillin resistance , found in 23.4% of the isolates , followed by resistance to methicillin as the second - most common resistant pattern , observed in 20.3% of the isolates.conclusions:frequency of s. epidermidis was significantly lower , compared to other studies .
presence rate of meca and susceptibility to linezolid and vancomycin did not show significant differences with other investigations , while resistant to trimethoprim - sulfamethoxazole was significantly lower compared to other investigations , and resistance to tetracycline was significantly higher in comparison to other investigations .
presence of methicillin - resistant s. epidermidis in icu patients , especially in individuals... |
7,489 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: pemphigus vulgaris ( pv ) is a chronic autoimmune mucocutaneous disease that usually manifests first in the oral cavity and may later spread to the skin or other mucous membranes . apart from ulcers , vesicles ,
bullae and pustular lesions , it can present solely as mucosal erosions . herein we report a case of intraoral pv presenting as intense erythema and erosions involving the gingiva .
a 52-year - old female presented to the department of periodontics , al - badar dental college and hospital , gulbarga with complaints of bright red gingivae and discomfort in her normal oral function .
the site most severely affected was her upper front buccal gingivae . the considerable pain and discomfort that the patient felt hindered her from carrying out effective oral hygiene measures and this in turn exacerbated the gingival symptoms .
she had essential hypertension , diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia and her daily medications included insulin , antihypertensive drugs and statins .
on intraoral examination , there were multiple large irregular erosions and areas of intense erythema involving particularly the gingivae of both upper and lower arch , buccally and palatally / lingually [ figures 1 and 2 ] .
orthopentamogram showed a combination of horizontal and vertical bone loss . the nikolky 's sign ( loss of epithelium occasioned by rubbing apparently unaffected skin ) that is a feature of pv was positive .
the patient had no cutaneous involvement and other mucosal sites such as conjunctiva , nasal passages and oesophagus were free of lesions .
intensely erythematous gingivae with multiple erosions erosive lesions on the gingiva palatally based on the history , multiple erosions and the apparent fragility of the gingivae experienced during examination , a vesiculobullous disorder was suspected .
is usually seen in the elderly , the former was thought to be more likely .
the other common conditions that can present with similar manifestations are oral lichen planus , drug hypersensitivity or idiopathic... | pemphigus vulgaris ( pv ) is an autoimmune blistering disease affecting the mucous membrane and skin .
typically , oral lesions appear before skin lesions , and in a majority of the cases only oral lesions are present .
the dentist may then be the first to recognize and diagnose this disease .
it is unusual for pv to present over the gingiva as a primary site of involvement .
diagnosis is based on clinical presentation and confirmed by histopathological study .
early diagnosis and management can prevent the uneven life- threatening effects of this potentially chronic mucocutaneous disorder . the case serves to enhance our awareness of the gingiva as a site at which systemic disease can manifest itself . |
7,490 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: . basically , there are two different outcomes of drowning , death on the spot of drowning , and survival from the initial apnoea . however , with the lower respiratory tract challenged by water , the survivor may suffer acute lung injury ( ali ) , which is characterized by developing pulmonary inflammation and edema .
it was reported that inflammation factor secretion , pulmonary edema , and inflammatory spreading to entire lung or even both lungs were closely related to the alteration of communication between cells .
gap junction channels ( gjcs ) , connecting the cytoplasm between adjacent cells , are cell membrane channels , which provide a pathway for rapid exchange of ions , metabolites , and small intracellular signal molecules , such as ca , cyclic amp , and so on .
the critical contribution of gjcs to disease etiology has been intensively researched in recent years , and connexin 43 ( cx43 ) , as the main mode of connection between alveolar epithelial cells , participates in a variety of acute / chronic lung disease occurrence and development .
evidence proven that cx43 may regulate ca signal path way , and this would play a pivotal role in acute lung injury .
3,5,4-tri - o - acetylresveratrol ( figure 1 ) , with three hydroxyls replaced by acetyls , is an analog of resveratrol .
several studies demonstrated that it exerted anti--irradiation effects by inhibiting the expression of reactive oxygen species ( ros ) and acted as inhibitors of paf - induced washed rabbit platelet aggregation .
besides , our previous results showed that 3,5,4-tri - o - acetylresveratrol might trigger the accumulation and concentration of resveratrol in lungs . based on the previous evidence , we put forward and proved in the present research the hypothesis that cx43 participated in the inflammation induced by seawater instillation via affecting intracellular communication . while 3,5,4-tri - o - acetylresveratrol could protect lungs by enhancing the expression of cx43 , suppressing inflammatory reaction and... | the aim of the present study was to examine the effects of 3,5,4-tri - o - acetylresveratrol on connexin 43 ( cx43 ) in acute lung injury ( ali ) in rats induced by tracheal instillation of artificial seawater .
different doses ( 50 , 150 , and 450 mg / kg ) of 3,5,4-tri - o - acetylresveratrol were administered orally for 7 days before modeling .
four hours after seawater inhalation , histological changes , contents of tnf- , il-1 and il-10 , and the expression of cx43 in lungs were detected . besides , the gap junction communication in a549 cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells ( huvecs ) challenged by seawater was also evaluated .
histological changes , increased contents of inflammatory factors , upregulation in gene level , and deregulation in protein level of cx43 in lungs stimulated by seawater were observed . on the other hand ,
pretreatment with 3,5,4-tri - o - acetylresveratrol significantly inhibited infiltration of inflammation , development of pulmonary edema , and contents of inflammatory mediators in lungs . above all
, 3,5,4-tri - o - acetylresveratrol upregulated the expression of cx43 in both gene and protein levels , and its intermediate metabolite , resveratrol , also enhanced the gap junction communication in the two cell lines .
the results of the present study suggested that administration of 3,5,4-tri - o - acetylresveratrol may be beneficial for treatment of inflammatorycellsin lung . |
7,491 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the success of contemporary and modern endodontics relies upon adequate knowledge of root canal anatomical variations and use of advanced diagnostic and treatment modalities .
recent studies and reviews have shown success rates up to 95% in teeth with irreversible pulpitis and 85% in teeth with necrotic root canals .
mandibular molars are the first permanent teeth to erupt in the oral cavity at 67 years followed by completion of calcification at 89 years of age .
the completion of canal differentiation commences at 36 years after closure of the apical foramen .
many variations exist with regards to its root and root canal anatomy thus necessitating critical evaluation of each individual case for variations .
this case report describes the successful non - surgical endodontic management of a three - rooted mandibular first molar with two canals in the mesial root , one canal each in both distobuccal and distolingual roots using helical computed tomography ( ct ) imaging .
a 21-year - old male reported to the outpatient department of conservative dentistry and endodontics with a chief complaint of pain in the lower left back region since 2 months .
clinical examination revealed the decayed distal surface in the left mandibular first molar ( tooth # 36 ) [ figure 1 ] with no fistulae or edema .
there was tenderness to palpation and vertical percussion , but the tooth mobility was within normal physiological limits .
the pre - operative radiograph of tooth # 36 taken from 20 degrees mesial angulation showed the presence of three roots with slight widening of the periapical periodontal ligament space in relation to the mesial root apex and periapical radiolucency measuring about 1 mm with respect to the periapex of the distobuccal root [ figure 2 ] . from the clinical and radiographic findings , a diagnosis of irreversible pulpitis with acute apical periodontiitis with tooth # 36 was made . to confirm the presence of extra root and to get detailed information of the anatomical variation in tooth # 36 , three -... | this case report describes the successful non - surgical endodontic management of carious exposed three - rooted mandibular molar with four root canals detected on the pre - operative radiograph taken with 20 degrees mesial angulation and confirmed with a 64-slice helical computed tomography scan - assisted 3-d - reconstructed images .
access cavity shape was modified to locate the extra canal with respect to the distolingual root in the left mandibular first molar .
copious irrigation was accomplished with 5.25% sodium hypochlorite and 17% edta .
biomechanical preparation was done using protapers .
calcium hydroxide dressing was done for 1 week .
the tooth was obturated using gutta percha and ah 26 root canal sealer , and it was permanently restored with composite .
clinical examination on follow - up visits revealed no sensitivity to percussion and palpation in the left mandibular first molar .
thorough knowledge of root canal variations and use of advanced diagnostic modalities lead to successful non - surgical management of the complex cases . |
7,492 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: spontaneous pseudoaneurysm of the femoral artery is extremely a rare entity.(1 ) it can be secondary to the rupture of a true aneurysm , but in most events the cause is unclear.(2 ) most patients with non - atherosclerotic pseudoaneurysms of sfa are asymptomatic initially and later present with a pulsatile , expanding mass along the anatomical course of sfa in the thigh and have a history of some trauma or surgical procedure.(3 ) due to their complications , large pseudoaneurysms require some kind of intervention . if not treated , they are at risk for rupture , infection , distal embolization or arteriovenous fistula formation .
( 1 ) we report a young patient with spontaneous femoral artery pseudoaneurysm without any history of trauma or vascular intervention successfully treated surgically .
a 29-year - old healthy man presented with right thigh swelling since 2 months which is painful throbbing in nature and aggravated by walking .
there was no history of local trauma and he had never suffered peripheral vascular disease . on presentation , he was hemodynamically stable and there was a tender swelling at the medial aspect of right mid thigh which was pulsatile .
ct angiogram was done which showed a pseudoaneurysm of the lower third of femoral artery .
ct angiogram showed a pseudoaneurysm of the lower third of femoral artery a surgical excision of the pseudo - aneurysm was done under general anesthesia .
after evacuation of hematoma , there was a large defect in the wall of the artery .
therefore , a greater saphenous vein interposition graft was used to maintain the vascular continuity .
formation of a femoral artery pseudoaneurysm is not infrequent after femoral arterial access , and it occurs in up to 0.7% of the diagnostic procedures and in up to 8% of the interventional procedures .
( 4 ) recently , there has been a significant decrease in both major and minor vascular complications after diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with an incidence of pseudoaneurysm less than 0.3 % .
( 5 ) spontaneous... | spontaneous femoral artery pseudoaneurysm is a rare disease and reported cases are very few . most of them are related to underlying pathology either atherosclerotic disease or connective tissue disease .
we present a 29-year - old healthy man with two months history of a painful pulsating mass at the level of the lower right thigh without any previous history of trauma , surgery or puncture of the femoral artery .
an angiogram revealed a right superficial femoral artery pseudo - aneurysm .
it was treated surgically by resection of the aneurysm , reconstruction with inter - positional saphenous vein graft .
we reported this case because of its rare incidence in the young patient with no underlying pathology . |
7,493 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: obesity is one of the most significant and rapidly increasing health problem today , giving rise to an explosion in health care costs .
the amount of energy we consume and how much we move around are the key factors in body weight regulation , but why a positive energy balance emerges in the majority of individuals in societies with access to abundant food calories is not completely understood .
our lifestyle has changed dramatically since the beginning of industrialization , and some of these changes probably affect energy balance in ways that favour weight gain .
some experts consider the dogma that voluntary changes in food intake and physical activity are the principal causes of the obesity epidemic to be circumstantial .
moralizing the problem and socially stigmatizing the obese has done nothing to stem the epidemic .
results from both human and animal studies indicate the existence of an intricate homeostatic system for maintaining body weight within a fairly narrow range and the presence of a powerful hedonic system that can interfere with this relatively finely tuned regulation . if central mechanisms in this homeostatic system , which involves endocrine feedback from the periphery to the brain , are influenced by changes in the environment , then even small environmental changes could potentially cause changes in body weight .
we propose a novel hypothesis involving a mechanism in which a small change in blood ph caused by increased concentrations of co2 in our environment may contribute to the development of obesity .
coinciding with the sharp increase in the prevalence of human obesity over the last 50 years , weight gain has also been observed in animals . a recent study found that 24 populations of 8 different species , including laboratory animals that had been fed the same diets for decades , all displayed significant weight gain .
this suggests that a shared environmental factor , favouring weight gain , may be involved in the regulation of energy balance .
the atmospheric concentration of co2... | human obesity has evolved into a global epidemic .
interestingly , a similar trend has been observed in many animal species , although diet composition , food availability and physical activity have essentially remained unchanged .
this suggests a common factor potentially an environmental factor affecting all species .
coinciding with the increase in obesity , atmospheric co2 concentration has increased more than 40% .
furthermore , in modern societies , we spend more time indoors , where co2 often reaches even higher concentrations . increased co2 concentration in inhaled air decreases the ph of blood , which in turn spills over to cerebrospinal fluids .
nerve cells in the hypothalamus that regulate appetite and wakefulness have been shown to be extremely sensitive to ph , doubling their activity if ph decreases by 0.1 units .
we hypothesize that an increased acidic load from atmospheric co2 may potentially lead to increased appetite and energy intake , and decreased energy expenditure , and thereby contribute to the current obesity epidemic . |
7,494 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: in the aged one , the auditory loss , is one of the three more prevalent chronic conditions , being behind only of the arthritis and the hypertension1
2 . according to3 , approximately 90% of the people with superior age the 80 years present auditory loss .
when it occurs in function of the aging process it is known as presbycusis and it generates one of the crippling riots of the communication , hindering the aged ones to play in the society , because it not only provokes the sensorial privation to hear , as the difficulty of understanding of speaks of that they surround it making it difficult the full communication1
4
5
6 . besides , it causes a series of social problems , amongst them : the removal of the social and familiar activities , low self - worth , isolation , solitude , depression and irritability1
7
8 . the aging process does not only represent the loss of the auditory threshold , it generates structural and functional modifications compromising all the components of the postural , sensorial control ( visual , somatic sensorial and vestibular contest ) , effector ( force , amplitude of movement , biomechanical alignment , flexibility ) and the central processing9
10
the physiological reduction of the vision , the hearing , the corporal stability , the articulate alterations and of the muscular power can facilitate to the risks of accidents and fall for the slowing of the defensive reactions11 .
the falls are dealt with as factor great epidemiologist relevance , social and economic in the whole world , therefore , it is the type most common of accident between the aged ones12 .
the complications lead the causes of deaths in people above of 65 years and promote physical , psychological , and social deficiency , being able to take the individual the dependence , reduction of the daily activities and the confidence , alteration of the life style13 generating negative consequences in relation to the quality of life14 . as the life expectancy is increasing , it is important to adopt... | summary
introduction : the aging process provokes structural modifications and functional to it greets , compromising the postural control and central processing .
studies have boarded the necessity to identify to the harmful factors of risk to aged the auditory health and security in stricken aged by auditory deficits and with alterations of balance .
objective : to evaluate the effect of auditory prosthesis in the quality of life , the balance and the fear of fall in aged with bilateral auditory loss .
method : carried through clinical and experimental study with 56 aged ones with sensorineural auditory loss , submitted to the use of auditory prosthesis of individual sonorous amplification ( aasi ) .
the aged ones had answered to the questionnaires of quality of life short form health survey ( sf-36 ) , falls efficacy international scale- ( fes - i ) and the test of berg balance scale ( bbs ) . after 4 months , the aged ones that they adapted to the use of the aasi had been reevaluated .
results : it had 50% of adaptation of the aged ones to the aasi . it was observed that the masculine sex had greater difficulty in adapting to the auditory device and that the variable age , degree of loss , presence of humming and vertigo had not intervened with the adaptation to auditory prosthesis .
it had improvement of the quality of life in the dominance of the state general health ( egs ) and functional capacity ( cf ) and of the humming , as well as the increase of the auto - confidence after adaptation of auditory prosthesis .
conclusion : the use of auditory prosthesis provided the improvement of the domains of the quality of life , what it reflected consequently in one better auto - confidence and in the long run in the reduction of the fear of fall in aged with sensorineural auditory loss . |
7,495 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the transportation sector of the united states accounts for over 70% of the nation 's total petroleum consumption , and 57% of the petroleum is imported .
in addition , use of petroleum - based fuels contributes to accumulation of greenhouse gases ( ghg ) in the atmosphere . due to concerns of energy security and ghg emissions
, it becomes crucial to develop domestic sustainable alternatives to petroleum - based transportation fuels .
biofuels produced from cellulosic biomass ( herbaceous , woody , and generally inedible portions of plant matter ) are a sustainable alternative to petroleum - based fuels .
the united states has the resource to produce over 1 billion dry tons of biomass with more than 80% of cellulosic biomass including about 320 million dry tons of woody biomass annually [ 5 , 6 ] .
this amount of biomass is sufficient to produce 90 billion gallons of liquid fuels that can replace about 30% of the nation 's current annual consumption of petroleum - based transportation fuels .
in contrast to grain - based biofuels , cellulosic biofuels do not compete for the limited agricultural land with food or feed production .
figure 1 shows the major processes of converting woody biomass to ethanol ( the most common form of biofuels ) .
size reduction of woody biomass is necessary because large - size woody biomass can not be converted to biofuels efficiently with the current conversion technologies [ 810 ] .
machines available for wood chipping include disk , drum , and v - drum chippers [ 1214 ] .
straight knives are mounted on a flywheel that revolves at a speed ranging from 400 to 1000 revolutions per minute ( rpm ) .
wood chips produced by wood chipping usually have sizes ranging from 5 to 50 mm .
the second step is biomass milling to further reduce the wood chips into small particles .
this step is usually conducted on knife mills or hammer mills [ 1719 ] .
wood particles produced by biomass milling usually have sizes ranging from 0.1 to 10 mm .
energy consumption of this step ranged from... | size reduction is the first step for manufacturing biofuels from woody biomass .
it is usually performed using milling machines and the particle size is controlled by the size of the sieve installed on a milling machine .
there are reported studies about the effects of sieve size on energy consumption in milling of woody biomass .
these studies show that energy consumption increased dramatically as sieve size became smaller .
however , in these studies , the sugar yield ( proportional to biofuel yield ) in hydrolysis of the milled woody biomass was not measured .
the lack of comprehensive studies about the effects of sieve size on energy consumption in biomass milling and sugar yield in hydrolysis process makes it difficult to decide which sieve size should be selected in order to minimize the energy consumption in size reduction and maximize the sugar yield in hydrolysis .
the purpose of this paper is to fill this gap in the literature . in this paper , knife milling of poplar wood
was conducted using sieves of three sizes ( 1 , 2 , and 4 mm ) .
results show that , as sieve size increased , energy consumption in knife milling decreased and sugar yield in hydrolysis increased in the tested range of particle sizes . |
7,496 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: osteopontin ( opn ) is a matricellular protein originally isolated from the bone , expressed by various cell types including macrophages , dendritic cells , and activated t cells .
opn mediates several biological functions such as bone remodeling , macrophage response , cell migration , and adhesion , and it is involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases including atherosclerosis , cancer , chronic inflammatory diseases , and several autoimmune diseases [ 13 ] .
opn costimulates t cell activation and supports differentiation of proinflammatory t helper 1 ( th1 ) and th17 cells [ 4 , 5 ] .
opn is a member of the sibling ( small integrin binding ligand n - linked glycoprotein ) protein family .
it has two calcium binding sites , two putative heparin binding domains , and multiple adhesion motifs which allow interaction with several receptors and cell types .
opn biological functions are influenced by posttranslational modifications , such as phosphorylation , glycosylation , and protein cleavage mediated by thrombin and metalloproteinases [ 79 ] .
opn has rgd ( arginine - glycine - aspartate ) integrin binding domain , through which it mediates interactions with v1 , v3 , v5 , v6 , 81 , and 51 integrins [ 1013 ] .
moreover , 91 , 41 , and 47 integrins bind to a cryptic svvyglr ( slayglr in mice ) sequence which is exposed upon thrombin cleavage occurring at the arg168-ser169 site near to the rgd motif [ 1416 ] .
this cleavage generates two fragments , the n- and c - terminal , displaying functional differences from the full length protein . the n - terminal fragment ( opn - n , approx .
35 kda ) binds to integrins through the rgd or the cryptic binding site , promotes ifn- secretion in t cells , and stimulates cell migration by binding to 91 and 41 [ 18 , 19 ] .
the c - terminal fragment ( opn - c , approx . 25 kda ) inhibits il-10 secretion and stimulates cell - cell adhesion by interacting with cd44 isoforms containing the v6 and v7 domains [ 20 , 21 ] .
opn is highly expressed in several tumors ,... | osteopontin is a proinflammatory cytokine and plays a pathogenetic role in multiple sclerosis and its animal model , experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis ( eae ) , by recruiting autoreactive t cells into the central nervous system .
osteopontin functions are modulated by thrombin cleavage generating n- and c - terminal fragment , whose individual roles are only partly known . published data are difficult to compare since they have been obtained with heterogeneous approaches .
interestingly , thrombin cleavage of osteopontin unmasks a cryptic domain of interaction with 41 integrin that is the main adhesion molecule involved in lymphocyte transmigration to the brain and is the target for natalizumab , the most potent drug preventing relapses .
we produced recombinant osteopontin and its n- and c - terminal fragments in an eukaryotic system in order to allow their posttranslational modifications .
we investigated , in vitro , their effect on human cells and in vivo in eae .
we found that the osteopontin cleavage plays a key role in the function of this cytokine and that the two fragments exert distinct effects both in vitro and in vivo .
these findings suggest that drugs targeting each fragment may be used to fine - tune the pathological effects of osteopontin in several diseases . |
7,497 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: chalcones ( 1,3-diphenyl-2-propen-1-ones ) are known to possess a range of important biological activities , such as antibacterial , antifungal , antileishmanial , antimalarial , antifilarial anti - inflammatory [ 68 ] , antiprotozoal ( antileishmanial and antipanosomal ) , antimicrobial [ 1013 ] , larvicidal , anticonvulsant , anti - hiv , antitumor , and anticancer activities , and they could be readily transformed into varieties of other compounds , many of which are biologically active heterocycles [ 19 , 20 ] . owing to such biological activities of chalcones , the chemical literature shows the synthesis of a wide range of chalcones and their analogues [ 4 , 813 , 2123 ] .
again , since macrocyclic compounds are well - known for their ability to show the important property of molecular recognition , macrocyclic systems containing the chalcone moiety are expected to generate compounds having interesting biological and material properties [ 24 , 25 ] .
our research on such compounds has been initiated through the synthesis of a number of macrocyclic bis- and monochalcones reported recently . in continuation of that study
we have synthesized a benzo - fused 26-membered macrocyclic bischalcone , namely , ( 19e,43e)-2.11.27.36-tetroxaheptacyclo [ 44.4.0.0.0.0.0.0 ] pentaconta-1(46),4(9),5,7,12(17),13,15,19,21,23,25,29,31,33,37,39,41,43,47,49-icosaene-18,45-dione ( 3 ) , and a benzo - fused 13-membered macrocyclic monochalcone , namely , ( 19e)-2.11-dioxatetracyclo[19.4.0.0.0 ] pentacosa-1(25),4(9),5,7,12(17),13,15,19,21,23-decaen-18-one ( 5 ) , by use of readily available starting materials .
alkylation products of salicylaldehyde and o - hydroxyacetophenone by the use of 1,2-(bis - bromobenzyl)benzene as alkylating agent were first prepared . the resulting dialdehyde ( 1 ) and diketone ( 2 ) , both new compounds ,
were then subjected to claisen - schmidt reaction under high dilution condition when the macrocyclic bischalcone 3 was obtained in moderate yield ( scheme 1 ) . in order to achieve the... | simple syntheses of the benzo - fused 26-membered macrocyclic bischalcone ( 19e,43e)-2.11.27.36-tetroxaheptacyclo[44.4.0.04,9.012,17.021,26.029,34.037,42]pentaconta-1(46),4(9),5,7,12(17),13,15,19,21,23,25,29,31,33,37,39,41,43,47,49-icosaene-18,45-dione ( 3 ) and the benzo - fused 13-membered macrocyclic chalcone ( 19e)-2.11-dioxatetracyclo[19.4.0.04,9.012,17]pentacosa-1(25),4(9),5,7,12(17),13,15,19,21,23-decaen-18-one ( 5 ) using very common starting materials and reagents are described .
the compounds are new and they have been characterized from their analytical and spectral data . |
7,498 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the measuring health and disability in europe ( mhadie ) was funded as part of the 6th framework programme by the european commission to be developed between 2005 and 2008 .
the main aim of the project was to demonstrate the feasibility and utility of the world health organisation s international classification of functioning , disability and health ( icf ) as a cross - cutting , universal framework and international standard to influence and support new european policy guidelines on health and disability by means of statistical , clinical and experimental research .
icf s universal approach constitutes a paradigm shift in our understanding of disability , one that underscores the need to integrate individual functioning with the complete physical and social environment in order to capture the full - lived experience of disability that links health and social policy to promote social integration and increase participation , thereby enhancing opportunities for persons with disabilities .
as part of this co - ordination action , institutions and researchers from 11 countries distributed across all the european union , have been able to demonstrate the application of the icf model in the collection of health and disability data using this common framework the project has established a network of european partners that are involved at regional , national and international level with the implementation of icf , icf children version and icf related instruments in clinical samples of selected conditions .
specifically , this co - ordination action has been able to : 1 ) employ the icf model of functioning and disability to analyse existing general population health surveys and education statistics data ; 2 ) demonstrate that the icf model is adequate for describing and measuring patterns of disability in clinical samples of selected conditions , cross - sectionally and over time ; and 3 ) demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of the icf for collecting and managing data in educational sectors .
among the results... | introductionthe measuring health and disability in europe ( mhadie ) was funded as part of the 6th framework programme by the european commission to be developed between 2005 and 2008 .
the main aim of the project was to demonstrate the feasibility and utility of the world health organisation s international classification of functioning , disability and health ( icf ) as a cross - cutting , universal framework and international standard to influence and support new european policy guidelines on health and disability by means of statistical , clinical and experimental research .
icf s universal approach constitutes a paradigm shift in our understanding of disability , one that underscores the need to integrate individual functioning with the complete physical and social environment in order to capture the full - lived experience of disability that links health and social policy to promote social integration and increase participation , thereby enhancing opportunities for persons with disabilities.descriptionas part of this co - ordination action , institutions and researchers from 11 countries distributed across all the european union , have been able to demonstrate the application of the icf model in the collection of health and disability data using this common framework the project has established a network of european partners that are involved at regional , national and international level with the implementation of icf , icf children version and icf related instruments in clinical samples of selected conditions.resultsspecifically , this co - ordination action has been able to:1 ) employ the icf model of functioning and disability to analyse existing general population health surveys and education statistics data;2 ) demonstrate that the icf model is adequate for describing and measuring patterns of disability in clinical samples of selected conditions , cross - sectionally and over time ; and3 ) demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of the icf for collecting and managing data in educational... |
7,499 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the onset of seizures is usually before the age of 12 months in developmentally normal infants .
the first seizure type is usually clonic , generalized or unilateral and triggered by fever .
the diagnosis of ds is based on the clinical phenotype ; however , mutations in the scn1a gene can be found in 7585% of patients with ds 2 , 3 .
the estimated incidence of ds ranges from 1 in 15 700 to 1 in 40 000 live births 2 , 4 .
the current treatment strategy for patients with ds involves the use of multiple antiepileptic drugs ( aeds ) , including combinations of valproate , topiramate , clobazam , stiripentol and others 5 , 6 . in a recent survey of european patients with ds ,
about 40% of patients were treated with three aeds and approximately 40% were treated with four aeds 6 . despite these multidrug regimens , 45% continue to experience 4 tonic clonic seizures / month 6 . to reduce frequent and disabling seizures ,
fenfluramine ( 3trifluoromethylnethylamphetamine ) , originally approved as an appetite suppressant 7 , has also been reported to exhibit activity in refractory epilepsy 8 . due to the retrospective character of previous studies 9 , 10 , we wanted to confirm our data in a welldesigned prospective trial in a new group of patients with ds . here
we describe the effectiveness , tolerability and safety of fenfluramine in a new cohort of patients with ds who began treatment after 2010 .
patients of between 6 months and 50 years of age with a ds diagnosis based on the core phenotype 1 with or without scn1a mutation and whose epilepsy was uncontrolled despite adequate therapy with standard aeds were eligible .
the major exclusion criteria included cardiovascular pathology , hypertension treated with medication , glaucoma , or hypersensitivity to fenfluramine or any other amphetaminelike drug .
all patients who enrolled between january 2011 and december 2015 and who had at least 3 months of observation after starting fenfluramine were included in this analysis .
this prospective openlabel study began with a... | background and purposedravet syndrome ( ds ) is a severe , drugresistant epilepsy .
fenfluramine has been reported to have a longterm clinically meaningful anticonvulsive effect in patients with ds.methodsthis prospective , openlabel study assessed the safety and effectiveness of lowdose fenfluramine in a new cohort of patients with ds . following a 3month baseline period ,
fenfluramine was added to each patient 's current antiepileptic drug regimen at a dose of 0.251.0 mg / kg / day ( max .
20 mg / day ) .
the incidence of major motor seizures ( tonic , clonic , tonic
clonic , atonic and myoclonic seizures lasting > 30 s ) in both the baseline and treatment periods was assessed via a seizure diary .
periodic echocardiographic examinations during the treatment period were used to assess cardiovascular safety.resultsnine patients ( aged 1.229.8 years ) enrolled in the study and were treated with fenfluramine for a median duration of 1.5 ( range , 0.35.1 ) years .
median frequency of major motor seizures was 15.0/month in the baseline period .
all patients demonstrated a reduction in seizure frequency during the treatment period with a median reduction of 75% ( range , 28100% ) .
seven patients ( 78% ) experienced a 50% reduction in major motor seizure frequency .
the most common adverse events were somnolence ( n = 5 ) and anorexia ( n = 4 ) .
no evidence of cardiac valvulopathy or pulmonary hypertension was observed.conclusionsthe effectiveness and safety of lowdose fenfluramine as an addon therapy for ds in this new prospective cohort supports previous findings . |
7,500 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: most of the dual infections cause a diagnostic dilemma and require a high degree of suspicion in susceptible individuals .
however , dual infections with mucormycosis may follow a fulminant course and may be associated with higher mortality and morbidity .
we hereby report coinfection of pulmonary tuberculosis ( tb ) with mucormycosis in a diabetic male that worsened rapidly in spite of the antimicrobial therapy targeted toward the same .
a 72-year - old nonsmoker male , known case of diabetes mellitus type ii since 10 years , on oral hypoglycemic agents , presented with the complaints of altered sensorium with low - grade fever associated with pain abdomen and vomiting and was diagnosed to have severe urinary tract infection .
he was being managed in the ward for diabetic ketoacidosis for the same and was doing well until the 9 day of admission when he developed cough , expectoration , and difficulty in breathing .
subsequently , the patient was intubated and transferred to intensive care unit ( icu ) for mechanical ventilation with synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation mode and further managed according to the institutional protocol .
all routine biochemical and hematological investigations including the chest x - ray ( cxr ) were sent .
blood sugar levels were found to be 460 mg% and total lymphocyte count was 1200 mm , and urine ketones were found to be positive .
arterial blood gas on the day of admission at fio2 of 0.6 had a pao2/fio2(pf ) ratio of 261 . empirical antibiotic therapy and vasopressor
support with noradrenaline ( 0.5 g / kg / min ) was started as per protocol .
sputum examination undertaken in the ward itself was negative for acid fast - bacilli ( afb ) .
the cxr showed bilateral cavitary lesions in all the zones on the very 1 day of icu admission . with a high index of suspicion for fungal pneumonia based on the clinical and radiological findings and negative sputum for afb , antifungal ( caspofungin 70 mg intravenous [ iv ] loading dose followed by 50 mg iv once daily )
however... | herein , we present the case report of an adult male diabetic patient who had coinfection with mycobacterium tuberculosis and mucormycosis , which otherwise is a rare clinical entity .
diabetes mellitus may predispose a patient to tuberculosis ( tb ) infection which further weakens immune system thus making him susceptible to other fungal or bacterial infections which may pose various treatment difficulties . therefore , there is a need for mycological and bacteriological investigations in patients with pulmonary tb to rule out secondary coinfections thus contributing to better management . |
7,501 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: research into tumor cell metabolism has recently entered a new age ( cairns et al . , 2011 ; kroemer and pouyssegur , 2008 ) . although this field was actively explored in the pre - genomics era , the discovery of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes dampened interest in metabolism as a potential source of cancer cell specificities and related therapeutic targets .
however , although the study of tumor - associated genes has led to the identification of oncoproteins as new therapeutic targets , a cure for cancer is still far away .
scientists in the cancer field are therefore reconsidering earlier metabolic discoveries using the molecular tools that are now available .
the altered metabolism of cancer cells compared with normal cells confers a selective advantage for their survival and proliferation . as the primary tumor expands
, it outgrows the diffusion limits of its local blood supply , leading to hypoxia . among other effects
, hypoxia induces the expression of hypoxia - inducible factor ( hif ) , a transcription factor that initiates a range of responses , including angiogenesis and various pro - survival mechanisms ( denko , 2008 ) .
cellular metabolism is consecutively shifted towards the glycolytic pathway ( i.e. glucose to lactate ) through the increased expression of glycolytic enzymes and glucose transporters , together with a decreased dependence on the oxidative pathway ( i.e. pyruvate to lactate to acetyl - coa ) . in parallel ,
stimulation of angiogenesis leads to chaotic development of the tumor vasculature , which only alleviates hypoxia to a limited temporal and spatial extent , further selecting for tumors that constitutively upregulate glycolysis .
the warburg effect describes this capacity of tumor cells to exploit glycolysis ( i.e. without coupling to the krebs cycle and mitochondrial respiratory chain ) even in the presence of oxygen ( cairns et al . , 2011 ) .
the expression of oncogenes such as those encoding for myc and ras , and/or loss of tumor suppressor genes such as p53 , also... | hypoxia and oncogene expression both stimulate glycolytic metabolism in tumors , thereby leading to lactate production .
however , lactate is more than merely a by - product of glycolysis : it can be used as a metabolic fuel by oxidative cancer cells .
this phenomenon resembles processes that have been described for skeletal muscle and brain that involve what are known as cell - cell and intracellular lactate shuttles .
two control points regulate lactate shuttles : the lactate dehydrogenase ( ldh)-dependent conversion of lactate into pyruvate ( and back ) , and the transport of lactate into and out of cells through specific monocarboxylate transporters ( mcts ) . in tumors ,
mct4 is largely involved in hypoxia - driven lactate release , whereas the uptake of lactate into both tumor cells and tumor endothelial cells occurs via mct1 .
translating knowledge of lactate shuttles to the cancer field offers new perspectives to therapeutically target the hypoxic tumor microenvironment and to tackle tumor angiogenesis . |
7,502 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: it is well known that osa patients have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease ( cvd ) and death [ 14 ] .
many factors play a role in pathogenesis of atherosclerosis , such as systemic inflammation , oxidative stress , increased vascular endothelial growth factor , adhesion molecules , and coagulant factors .
recent studies have shown that osa patients without cvd risk factors have increased endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis .
carotid intima - media thickness ( imt ) is used as a marker for the detection of early endothelial defect and subclinical atherosclerosis .
recent studies suggest the presence of osa is independently associated with increased carotid imt . however , many patients with osa have other concomitant disease or risk factors , such as diabetes , cardiovascular disease , hypertension , hyperlipidemia , obesity , and smoking . therefore , it is difficult to determine a direct association between atherosclerosis and osa . on the other hand ,
several studies have reported that patients with osa have increased platelet activation and aggregation [ 1113 ] .
some clinical studies have reported that mpv could be regarded as new predictor for atherosclerosis [ 1416 ] .
a few studies have reported an association between mpv and sleep apnea [ 1719 ] . however , there is a lack of research directly examining the relevance between mpv and carotid intima - media thickness in sleep apnea .
regarding the association between osa and cardiovascular disease , we aimed to detect early finding of atherosclerosis by measuring carotid intima - media thickness and to examine the association between mpv and imt and osa severity .
the subjects were selected consecutively from the sleep disorders clinic of our institution between october 2014 and march 2016 .
the patients underwent physical examination , chest x - ray , respiratory function test , and routine blood analysis before polysomnography ( psg ) .
study subjects were categorized into 4 groups according to apnea - hypopnea index ( ahi ) : control... | backgroundobstructive sleep apnea ( osa ) is known to be closely associated with cardiovascular disease .
carotid intima - media thickness ( imt ) is widely used for assessment of atherosclerosis .
mean platelet volume ( mpv ) is a new marker associated with atherothrombosis . in this study
, we aimed to detect early atherosclerosis by measuring carotid intima - media thickness and to investigate the relationship between mpv and imt and osa severity.material/methodsthe study population consisted of 158 patients who underwent polysomnography and did not have any overt cardiac disease or risk factors .
carotid imt was measured by ultrasonography .
blood samples were taken for mpv determination .
subjects were divided into 4 groups according to osa severity : control , mild , moderate , and severe osa.resultsthe patients with osa ( mild , moderate , severe ) had an increased carotid imt ( 0.590.2 , 0.600.1 , 0.640.1 , respectively ) compared to controls ( 0.500.1 , p<0.05 ) .
there were no differences found between groups regarding mean platelet volume .
carotid imt was found to be positively correlated with age , systolic blood pressure , apnea - hypopnea index ( ahi ) , oxygen desaturation index ( odi ) , and time duration with oxygen saturation < 90% ( t90 ) , and negatively correlated with minimum spo2 and mean spo2 .
mpv was not correlated with osa severity or other parameters .
carotid imt was found to be effective in predicting the presence of osa [ auc=0.769 ( 0.683 , 0.855 ) , p<0.001 ) ] but mpv was not found to be effective [ auc=0.496 ( 0.337,0.614 ) p=0.946)].conclusionsosa patients appear to have increased carotid imt suggestive of an atherosclerotic process .
carotid imt could be a more useful indicator than mpv in these patients .
long - term prospective studies are needed to confirm these results . |
7,503 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the numbers of children and adolescents under 18 years of age receiving ssi have almost quadrupled from 1989 ( 275,000 ) to the current level of approximately 1 million ( social security administration , 1996 ) . along with an income benefit ,
ssi enrollment brings medicaid insurance in almost all states , even where the recipient might usually be ineligible because of age or household income ( national commission on childhood disability , 1995 ; perrin and stein , 1991 ) .
medicaid , already the largest public insurer for children , has gained many additional childhood recipients through ssi eligibility .
estimates of current public expenditures for the child and adolescent ssi program range up to $ 10 billion , approximately 60 percent for cash benefits and 40 percent for associated medicaid expenditures ( national commission on childhood disability , 1995 ) .
this tremendous growth in the child and adolescent ssi program followed at least three major policy changes in the past several years : ( 1 ) the publication of new guidelines by the social security administration ( ssa ) for determining mental health disability in children in 1990 , substantially increasing the access to ssi of children with mental health conditions ( social security administration , 1990a ) ; ( 2 ) the supreme court zebley decision , which led to new rules for determining disability among children with multiple conditions and for assessing how health conditions affect the functioning of children ( sullivan v. zebley , 493 u.s .
521 , 1990 ) ; and ( 3 ) a major effort by ssa to identify potential child recipients in the late 1980s and the early 1990s , partially under congressional mandate .
the additional expenditures for these children ( through the direct ssi cash benefit and the associated medicaid coverage ) represent one of the largest new investments in child health and welfare in the united states . insofar as many children with chronic health conditions lack access to health insurance ( fox and newacheck , 1990 ; newacheck... | the supplemental security income ( ssi ) program for children and adolescents has experienced a fourfold enrollment growth since 1989 .
most ssi recipients also receive medicaid , and ssi growth could therefore lead to major new medicaid expenditures if new ssi recipients were not previous medicaid enrollees . using medicaid claims for 1989 - 92
, we determined whether ssi expansions included many children new to medicaid as well as whether children with certain disabilities were more likely to have had medicaid prior to ssi enrollment .
rates of new ssi enrollees without previous medicaid coverage decreased from 53 percent in 1989 to 39 percent by 1992 . |
7,504 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the incidence of infections due to extended - spectrum -lactamase ( esbl)-producing bacteria has increased rapidly in recent years and poses a worldwide threat to health care .
the close relationship between esbl production and multidrug resistance leaves only a few treatment options for infections commonly caused by enterobacteriaceae.1 patients with an infection caused by esbl - producing bacteria are at risk for therapeutic failure or even death because there is often a delay before the correct antibiotic treatment is given.2 in international comparisons , there have so far been only a few nosocomial outbreaks of plasmid - mediated esbl - producing bacteria in sweden.3,4 further , compared with other european countries , the prevalence of esbl in bacterial isolates from feces and blood has long been relatively low in sweden , found in less than 3% of escherichia coli , although this proportion is increasing.5,6 poor hand hygiene and lack of food hygiene facilitates the spread of esbl - producing enterobacteriaceae.710 known risk factors for colonization or onset of infection with esbl - producing enterobacteriaceae from different studies are antibiotic use , prolonged and/or recent hospital stay , severe illness , recent surgery , bladder catheterization or other invasive medical devices , residence in a long - term care facility , international travel , and age 65 years and older.1,4,1114 however , the positive predictive value of these risk factors is low.15 it is important to identify patients who are at risk for infection with esbl - producing bacteria , especially in low endemic countries , in order to reduce mortality , to avoid spread of resistant bacteria in hospitals , and to minimize the number of patients receiving unnecessary treatment with broad - spectrum antibiotics.2 the aim of this study was to perform a case - control survey of swedish patients to identify risk factors for developing an infection with esbl - producing e. coli in a low endemic country .
we performed a case - control survey... | backgroundit is important to identify patients who are at risk for infections with extended - spectrum -lactamase ( esbl)-producing bacteria in order to reduce mortality , to avoid spread of resistant bacteria in hospitals , and to minimize the number of patients receiving unnecessary treatment with broad - spectrum antibiotics .
a case - control survey among swedish patients was performed at skne university hospital to identify risk factors for developing an infection with esbl - producing escherichia coli in a low endemic country.methodswe used a computerized database to identify patients with growth of esbl - producing e. coli ( n = 109 ) in urine or blood cultures and an equal number of controls matched for age and gender with non esbl - producing e. coli in urine and blood diagnosed between january and october 2008 .
we used unadjusted p-values.resultspatients with esbl - producing e. coli had a significantly ( p < 0.05 ) higher likelihood of having traveled to asia including turkey and the middle east including egypt ( 14/58 ) than the non - esbl - positive group ( 4/53 ) .
hospital stay during the previous year ( p < 0.04 ) , especially for more than one month , was another significant ( p = 0.01 ) risk factor for infection with esbl - producing e. coli ( 8/58 ) . a stay in the surgical department was a further risk factor ( p < 0.01).conclusionin this study , we identified 22 of 58 ( 38% ) patients with esbl - producing e. coli by considered significant risk factors before starting antibiotics . |
7,505 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: for 40 years , the use of osseointegrated implants has shown to be a supplementary modality for treating full or partial edentulism . since the early 1990s , providing shorter treatment periods to patients has become a major focus first via the one - stage surgical technique and then through the immediate loading protocol . delivering a fixed prosthesis on the same day of the last extractions supported by immediate implants has quickly become a major challenge .
patients can therefore never be left without teeth and the treatment length is ultimately shortened .
these protocols provide multiple benefits : ( 1 ) only one surgical session , ( 2 ) immediate loading of a temporary prosthesis allowing for a reduction of the patient 's discomfort and facilitating his return to social and professional life , ( 3 ) avoiding the resorption of hard tissues , the two - thirds of this reduction occurring during the first 3 months , ( 4 ) guiding the soft tissue healing for an optimal aesthetic environment and minimal recession , and ( 5 ) taking advantage of the extraction socket healing potential .
nevertheless , if treatments by immediate implants associated with deferred loading have a long clinical history and offer good results , low scientific evidence exists for their combination with immediate function .
2001 obtained success rates of 80% and 82.4% , respectively , for immediately loaded implants in postextraction sites .
2002 as well as by grunder 2001 with survival rates of 100% and 97.3% , respectively , for similar protocols in the mandible .
2009 that in spite of achieving predictable osteointegration when implants were placed in fresh extraction sockets , the occurrence of buccal bone resorption may limit the use of this surgical approach .
more recently , villa and rangert 2005 reported a 100% success rate for the treatment of 20 patients with 97 implants placed in postextraction sites and combined with early function .
they demonstrated that , with an appropriate biomechanical , surgical ,... | statement of problem .
low scientific evidence is identified in the literature for combining implant placement in fresh extraction sockets with immediate function . moreover
, the few studies available on immediate implants in postextraction sites supporting immediate full - arch rehabilitation clearly lack comprehensive protocols .
purpose .
the purpose of this study is to report outcomes of a comprehensive protocol using cad - cam technology for surgical planning and fabrication of a surgical template and to demonstrate that immediate function can be easily performed with immediate implants in postextraction sites supporting full - arch rehabilitation .
material and methods .
14 subjects were consecutively rehabilitated ( 13 maxillae and 1 mandible ) with 99 implants supporting full - arch fixed prostheses followed between 6 and 24 months ( mean of 16 months ) .
outcome measures were prosthesis and implant success , biologic and prosthetic complications , pain , oedema evaluation , and radiographic marginal bone levels at surgery and then at 6 , 12 , 18 , and 24 months .
data were analyzed with descriptive statistics .
results .
the overall cumulative implant survival rate at mean follow - up time of 16 months was 97.97% .
the average marginal bone loss was 0,9 mm .
conclusions . within the limitations of this study
, the results validate this treatment modality for full - arch rehabilitations with predictable outcomes and high survival rate after 2 years . |
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