Prevention and Control Strategies to Counter ZIKA Epidemic.
ZIKA virus (ZIKA) has now become a global phenomenon. Since 2007, evidence of ZIKA transmission has been reported over 72 countries and territories. The transmission of ZIKA has made World Health Organization to categorize the situation under the ambit of a health emergency. This situation is serious because there appears to be a highly tangible link between infection during pregnancy and the occurrence of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. In the context of this emergency situation, this review article intends to discuss the prevention and control strategies such as avoiding travel to infected area, being careful from mosquito bites, take precautions to reduce the risk of sexual transmission, and seek medical care for any acute illness with rash or fever. This review is an attempt to analyze the results of those campaigns, keeping in view the variables and constants that affect any such measures. Furthermore, this article will suggest proactive measures that can be employed to effectively combat the epidemic transmission of the ZIKA.


[The diagnosis and treatment of Dieulafoy's syndrome].
Dieulafoy's lesion is one of numerous causes of acute gastrointestinal bleedings. A prospective study of the Dieulafoy lesion were carried out from 1989 till 1995. Under study there were 8 patients. Acute Dieulafoy ulcers are most often localize in the upper third of the stomach and cause massive bleedings. The authors consider urgent laparotomy with gastrotomy, dissection of the ulcer and suturing the vessel to be the operation of choice.


Spin label EPR suggests the presence of cholesterol rich domains in cultured insect cell membranes.
Different spin labels were incorporated to the membranes of cultured insect UFL-AG-286 cells in order to characterize their physical properties by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy (EPR). The spectrum of the spin label 12-SASL incorporated to cell membranes was similar as those obtained in membrane model systems composed of eggPC/cholesterol. However, the spectrum of the spin label CSL, chemically related to cholesterol, was drastically different in the two systems. Interestingly, when cell cholesterol content was reduced using methyl beta cyclodextrin, an EPR spectrum similar to those of model membranes was obtained. The analysis of these experiments suggests the existence of cholesterol rich regions in UFL-AG-286 cell membranes.


A spray-based technique for the production of MnS thin films.
A spray-based technique, originally developed for the production of semiconductor nanocrystals, is utilized for the preparation of high-quality nanocrystalline thin films, as demonstrated with manganese sulfide. The films are formed by the use of pneumatic-assisted thermospray or pneumatic nebulizers. Our simple, low-cost, and low-temperature process results in a dense and phase-pure grain structure. The concepts and benefits of this technique are described and discussed. The film characteristics show dependence on the experimental parameters, in particular the rate of solvent vaporization. Three alternative film formation mechanisms are suggested for cases with varied experimental conditions.


Input control processes in rapid serial visual presentations: target selection and distractor inhibition.
The attentional blink refers to the finding that the 2nd of 2 targets embedded in a stream of rapidly presented distractors is often missed. Whereas most theories of the attentional blink focus on limited-capacity processes that occur after target selection, the present work investigates the selection process itself. Identifying a target letter caused an attentional blink for the enumeration of subsequent dot patterns, but this blink was reduced when the dots shared their color with the target letter. In contrast, performance worsened when the color of the dots matched that of the remaining distractors in the stream. Similarity between the targets also affected competition between different sets of dots presented simultaneously within a single display. The authors conclude that the selection of targets from a rapid serial visual presentation stream is mediated by both excitatory and inhibitory attentional control mechanisms.


Clinical outcomes in a subpopulation of adults with Morquio A syndrome: results from a long-term extension study of elosulfase alfa.
This post hoc subanalysis examined outcomes in adult patients with Morquio A (mucopolysaccharidosis IVA) who received enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with elosulfase alfa over a 120-weeks period. Patients ≥18 years of age evaluated in an open-label, long-term extension study of elosulfase alfa (modified per protocol [MPP], n = 32; intent-to-treat [ITT], n = 37; MOR-005; NCT01415427) were compared with the ≥18-year-old untreated population with 2-years follow-up from a Morquio A natural history study (n = 10; MorCAP; NCT00787995). The MOR-005 MPP population excluded patients who underwent orthopedic surgical procedures or were noncompliant with study protocol (defined as missing ≥20% of ERT infusions). No MorCAP patients underwent orthopedic surgical procedures during the relevant time period. Endurance was assessed by the 6-min walk test (6MWT) and 3-min stair climb test (3MSCT). Activities of daily living (ADLs) were assessed by the MPS Health Assessment Questionnaire (MPS HAQ). Least squares (LS) mean (SE) 6MWT distances increased by 34.9 (11.7) m (MPP) and 30.5 (10.8) m (ITT) by week 120; LS mean (SE) change in 3MSCT at week 120 was 6.7 (1.8) stairs/min (MPP) and 5.9 (1.7) stairs/min (ITT). MorCAP patients showed no improvement in 6MWT distance or 3MSCT over a similar period of time. Pulmonary function measures remained unchanged in both MOR-005 and MorCAP adults. All MPS HAQ domain scores improved in MOR-005 adults, whereas MorCAP adults had unchanged caregiver assistance and mobility outcomes and worsened self-care outcomes. Long-term ERT in adult patients with Morquio A was associated with increased endurance and improvement in performance of ADLs. Trial Registration NCT01415427 . Name of registry: Long-Term Efficacy and Safety Extension Study of BMN 110 in Patients With Mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (Morquio A Syndrome). Registered 8 August 2011, retrospectively registered.


Increased plasma levels of TNF-alpha but not of IL1-beta in MPTP-treated monkeys one year after the MPTP administration.
The cause of Parkinson's disease remains unknown although some evidence suggests that an inflammatory reaction, mediated by cytokines such as TNF-alpha and IL-1beta, is related with dopaminergic degeneration in the brain. In the present work we measured the plasma levels of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta in parkinsonian monkeys one year after MPTP administration. TNF-alpha levels were seen to have increased in parkinsonian monkeys reflecting the clinical symptoms observed, while IL-1beta levels remained unchanged. These results suggest that TNF-alpha plays a role in sustaining of dopaminergic degeneration in chronic parkinsonism.


Toxin-mediated gene regulatory mechanism in Staphylococcus aureus.
The dangerous human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus relies heavily on toxins to cause disease, but toxin production can put a strong burden on the bacteria's energy balance. Thus, controlling the synthesis of proteins solely needed in times of toxin production represents a way for the bacteria to avoid wasting energy. One hypothetical manner to accomplish this sort of regulation is by gene regulatory functions of the toxins themselves. There have been several reports about gene regulation by toxins in S. aureus, but these were never verified on the molecular level. In our study published in MBio [Joo et al., 7(5). pii: e01579-16], we show that phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs), important peptide toxins of S. aureus, release a repressor from the promoter of the operon encoding the toxin export system, thereby enabling toxin secretion. This study describes the first molecular regulatory mechanism exerted by an S. aureus toxin, setting a paradigmatic example of how S. aureus toxins may influence cell functions to adjust them to times of toxin production.


G-protein-coupled receptor agonists differentially regulate basal or tumor necrosis factor-alpha-stimulated activation of interleukin-6 and RANTES in human airway smooth muscle cells.
Using thapsigargin (Tg), an agent that mobilizes calcium by directly emptying intracellular stores, we previously showed that intracellular calcium may play an important role in the regulation of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 gene expression induced by cytokines in human airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells. In the present study, we extended this previous observation by comparing the effect of Tg and other calcium-mobilizing G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) agonists on the expression of different pro-inflammatory genes in response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in ASM cells. We found that in resting cells, Tg (10-100 nM) or the bradykinin (BK) (1-10 muM) and thrombin (Thr) (1 U/ml) stimulated interleukin (IL)-6 secretion but had no effect on regulated on activation, normal T cells expressed and secreted (RANTES) levels. More importantly, such calcium-mobilizing agents significantly enhanced TNF-alpha-induced IL-6 secretion while RANTES secretion was abrogated. The use of luciferase-tagged IL-6 and RANTES promoter constructs demonstrated similar effects of Tg on IL-6 and RANTES genes in basal and TNF-alpha-stimulated conditions. The cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent pathway plays a minor role in this differential regulation of IL-6 and RANTES genes expression. 2-Aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (APB), a blocker of store-operated calcium channels (SOCs), and bisindolylmaleimide I (Bis I), a broad-spectrum protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, inhibited the basal and synergic effects of IL-6 secretion in response to calcium-mobilizing agents and TNF-alpha, but did not prevent the abrogated effect of RANTES secretion. We also found that Go-6976, a selective calcium-dependent PKC isozyme inhibitor, did not inhibit IL-6 secretion in response to GPCR agonist and TNF-alpha; whereas Rottlerlin, a PKC-delta inhibitor, inhibited both Thr- and TNF-alpha-induced expression of IL-6, while BK-induced IL-6 secretion was not affected. Interestingly, TNF-alpha-induced interferon regulatory factor (IRF)-1 activation was significantly inhibited by all calcium-mobilizing agents, BK, Thr and Tg. These results show that calcium-mobilizing GPCR agonists functionally interact with TNF-alpha to differentially regulate pro-inflammatory genes expression in human ASM cells, possibly by involving Tg-sensitive intracellular calcium stores, SOC and PKC.


Photochemical formation and cleavage of C-N bond.
A new photochemical method of C-N bond formation has been developed. A properly substituted trityl alcohol can cleave the benzylic C-O bond and replace it with a C-N bond which is stable under the irradiation conditions. The C-N bond can then be photochemically cleaved with the same light source when the nitrogen is protonated.


Interaction of [3H]orphanin FQ and 125I-Tyr14-orphanin FQ with the orphanin FQ receptor: kinetics and modulation by cations and guanine nucleotides.
The heptadecapeptide orphanin FQ (OFQ) has been identified as the endogenous ligand for a G protein-coupled receptor (OFQ-R), which, despite its high degree of sequence similarity to opioid receptors, fails to bind opioid ligands. We developed two radioligands for the OFQ-R: a tritiated native OFQ peptide ([3H]OFQ) and a radioiodinated form in which Leu14 was substituted by tyrosine (125I-Tyr14-OFQ). Their binding properties were examined in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells heterologously expressing the OFQ-R at different levels (HEK 293 expressed 40-fold more OFQ-R than did CHO). Both ligands exhibited rapid, monophasic association kinetics in each cell line. Dissociation of both ligands from OFQ-R expressed in HEK 293 cells was biphasic, whereas dissociation of 125I-Tyr14-OFQ from OFQ-R expressed in CHO cells was monophasic and slow. Saturation binding analysis revealed two affinity states in HEK 293 cells with binding parameters in accord with those determined kinetically. In CHO cells, 125I-Tyr14-OFQ detected a single affinity state with an intermediate Kd value of 54 pM. Optimal binding of the radioligands required 1-5 mM MgCl2, whereas millimolar concentrations of ZnCl2, CaCl2, MnCl2, and NaCl reduced specific binding of both ligands. A nonhydrolyzable GTP analog [guanosine-5'-(beta,gamma-imido)triphosphate] reduced the affinity of both OFQ ligands to their receptor without significant changes in the total binding capacity, indicating functional interactions between the OFQ-R and G proteins. In rat brain membranes, specific, saturable binding of 125I-Tyr14-OFQ was demonstrated to be pharmacologically identical to the heterologously expressed OFQ-R. Taken together, these results indicate that 125I-Tyr14-OFQ and [3H]OFQ exhibit virtually identical characteristics and are suitable for the pharmacological analysis of the OFQ-R.


The impact of carboplatin and toceranib phosphate on serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) levels and survival in canine osteosarcoma.
In this pilot study, 10 dogs with osteosarcoma (OSA) were treated with amputation and subsequent carboplatin chemotherapy (300 mg/m2 IV q3wk × 4 doses) followed by toceranib phosphate (2.75 mg/kg PO q48h starting at day 14 post carboplatin). Monthly clinical monitoring and serum measurements of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) were acquired. No dogs were removed from the study due to toxicity. Levels of VEGF and MMP-9 did not change over time. Seven dogs died related to local recurrence and/or pulmonary or bone metastasis and the remainder died of other causes. Median OSA-free survival was 238 d with 34% 1-year progression-free survival. Median overall survival was 253 d with 30% alive at 1.5 y and 10% alive at 2 y. Although this regimen was well-tolerated, survival times did not exceed previously published data from dogs treated with amputation plus chemotherapy alone.


Allogeneic and autologous bone marrow transplantation for acute non-lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has had an increasing role in the treatment of acute nonlymphoblastic leukaemia (ANLL). A review of patients transplanted between May 1975 and August 1991 was undertaken in order to evaluate problems and outcome, and examine the role of both autologous and allogeneic BMT at various stages in the treatment of ANLL. Forty-seven patients received either an allogeneic (n = 24) if a suitable donor was identified or autologous (n = 23) BMT if there was no allogeneic donor. Conditioning therapy consisted of total body irradiation (TBI) and cyclophosphamide (n = 14) or busulfan and cyclophosphamide (n = 33) with or without melphalan. Graft-versus-host disease prevention was with methotrexate (n = 9), methotrexate and cyclosporin (n = 10) or T cell depletion (n = 5). Minimum follow-up for surviving patients was 24 months (median 65 months). For patients transplanted in first remission there was a 0% and 9 +/- 6% transplant-related mortality, a 37 +/- 11% and 33 +/- 12% relapse risk and a 63 +/- 11% and 63 +/- 12% event-free survival for autologous and allogeneic BMT, respectively. In second remission, there was a 14% mortality, 50 +/- 20% relapse risk and 43 +/- 19% event-free survival for allogeneic BMT. No patient transplanted in relapse survived. In patients who survived greater than 24 months, late side effects were noted in all 8 (100%) patients given TBI and in 2 of 19 (10.5%) given busulfan.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Superconducting gap structure of FeSe.
The microscopic mechanism governing the zero-resistance flow of current in some iron-based, high-temperature superconducting materials is not well understood up to now. A central issue concerning the investigation of these materials is their superconducting gap symmetry and structure. Here we present a combined study of low-temperature specific heat and scanning tunnelling microscopy measurements on single crystalline FeSe. The results reveal the existence of at least two superconducting gaps which can be represented by a phenomenological two-band model. The analysis of the specific heat suggests significant anisotropy in the gap magnitude with deep gap minima. The tunneling spectra display an overall "U"-shaped gap close to the Fermi level away as well as on top of twin boundaries. These results are compatible with the anisotropic nodeless models describing superconductivity in FeSe.


Outside the box: Medications worth considering when traditional antiepileptic drugs have failed.
Review and discuss medications efficacious for seizure control, despite primary indications for other diseases, as treatment options in patients who have failed therapy with traditional antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Literature searches were conducted utilizing PubMed and MEDLINE databases employing combinations of search terms including, but not limited to, "epilepsy", "refractory", "seizure", and the following medications: acetazolamide, amantadine, bumetanide, imipramine, lidocaine, verapamil, and various stimulants. Data from relevant case studies, retrospective reviews, and available clinical trials were gathered, analyzed, and reported. Experience with acetazolamide, amantadine, bumetanide, imipramine, lidocaine, verapamil, and various stimulants show promise for cases of refractory epilepsy in both adults and children. Many medications lack large scale, randomized clinical trials, but the available data is informative when choosing treatment for patients that have failed traditional epilepsy therapies. All neurologists have encountered a patient that failed nearly every AED, diet, and surgical option. For these patients, we often seek fortuitous discoveries within small series and case reports, hoping to find a treatment that might help the patient. In the present review, we describe medications for which antiepileptic effect has been ascribed after they were introduced for other indications.


A cloned repeated DNA sequence in human chromosome heteromorphisms.
A sequence derived by ECoRI restriction of human satellite DNA III has been cloned in lambda gt WES. The cloned DNA was used as a template for in vitro synthesis of cRNA, which was hybridized in situ to preparations of human metaphase chromosomes with a range of heterochromatic polymorphisms. Most of the hybridization was found on chromosome 1, and the amount of hybridization was related to the size of the C-band on this chromosome. Hybridization to other chromosomes was not related to the C-band size, although hybridization of total satellite DNA is proportional to C-band size. Total satellite DNAs contain a mixture of sequences, some of which are predominantly located on only one pair of chromosomes. Hybridization in situ is able to discriminate between such chromosome-specific sequences and the bulk of satellite DNA. Further analysis of satellite DNAs may identify sequences specific for every chromosome pair.


Cysteine biosynthesis in Neisseria species.
The principal mechanism of reducing sulfur into organic compounds is via the synthesis of l-cysteine. Cysteine is used for protein and glutathione synthesis, as well as being the primary sulfur source for a variety of other molecules, such as biotin, coenzyme A, lipoic acid and more. Glutathione and other cysteine derivatives are important for protection against the oxidative stress that pathogenic bacteria such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis encounter during infection. With the alarming rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae, the development of inhibitors for the future treatment of this disease is critical, and targeting cysteine biosynthesis enzymes could be a promising approach for this. Little is known about the transport of sulfate and thiosulfate and subsequent sulfate reduction and incorporation into cysteine in Neisseria species. In this review we investigate cysteine biosynthesis within Neisseria species and examine the differences between species and with other bacteria. Neisseria species exhibit different arrangements of cysteine biosynthesis genes and have slight differences in how they assimilate sulfate and synthesize cysteine, while, most interestingly, N. gonorrhoeae by virtue of a genome deletion, lacks the ability to reduce sulfate to bisulfide for incorporation into cysteine, and as such uses the thiosulfate uptake pathway for the synthesis of cysteine.


Comparing Diagnostic and Treatment Recommendations of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Available on the Internet With AAOS Clinical Practice Guidelines.
Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most common diagnoses in a hand surgeon's office, with estimated cost exceeding US $2 billion annually in the United States. Due to this prevalence and cost, patients often turn to the Internet for their medical care. It has been estimated that 72% of Internet users have looked online for health information in the last year. There is concern that patients may be getting misinformation with their Internet medical searches. Methods: An informal survey of the Internet was conducted to evaluate the content available to the public on the Internet and social media platforms regarding the diagnosis and treatment of CTS. The top 20 listings of 3 major search engines and information within 3 major social media sites were included. Results: Information gleaned from the search showed that while most listings were helpful in providing accurate diagnostic information and appropriate treatment modalities, there was also a great number of treatment modalities mentioned that may not be recommended by the treating physician. The guidelines established by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons both in 2007 and in 2008 and more recently in 2016 were used as a general reference but not directly compared with the informal Internet search for statistical analysis. Conclusions: This search outlines the importance of the information readily available to patients and how this may potentially alter patients' expectations prior to their arrival in the office.


Dislocation-mediated growth of bacterial cell walls.
Recent experiments have illuminated a remarkable growth mechanism of rod-shaped bacteria: proteins associated with cell wall extension move at constant velocity in circles oriented approximately along the cell circumference [Garner EC, et al., (2011) Science 333:222-225], [Domínguez-Escobar J, et al. (2011) Science 333:225-228], [van Teeffelen S, et al. (2011) PNAS 108:15822-15827]. We view these as dislocations in the partially ordered peptidoglycan structure, activated by glycan strand extension machinery, and study theoretically the dynamics of these interacting defects on the surface of a cylinder. Generation and motion of these interacting defects lead to surprising effects arising from the cylindrical geometry, with important implications for growth. We also discuss how long range elastic interactions and turgor pressure affect the dynamics of the fraction of actively moving dislocations in the bacterial cell wall.


Long term outcome of acquired food allergy in pediatric liver recipients: a single center experience.
Food induced sensitization has been reported in pediatric liver recipients. However long term follow up has not been established so far.We report here our experience regarding 3 pediatric patients who developed acquired food allergy after liver transplantation. The first patient suffered from persistent diarrhea and eczema. The second one presented with abdominal pain with no signs of rejection, abdominal discomfort, vomiting when ingesting milk proteins and responded well to the elimination diet. The third patient presented with facial angioedema and hoarseness of voice. She had multiple food allergies and reacted to milk, egg and sesame. All the patients had elevated total Immunoglobulin E (IgE) and elevated specific IgE antibodies to the implicated food allergens. The first patient presented clinical manifestations of allergy when she was 19 months old. The second patient became allergic at the age of 16 and the third patient at the age of 3. The symptoms of food allergy persisted for 8 years in the first case and for 2 years in the other two cases. Low levels of specific IgE antibodies to the implicated food allergens and an enhanced T-helper 1 cell immune response toward interferon-gamma production were markers of tolerance acquisition. The long term prognosis in our cases was excellent. Food allergy resolved in all the patients. The long term prognosis of acquired food allergy after liver transplantation is currently obscure. More studies would be needed including greater number of patients to determine whether acquired food allergy is transient in pediatric liver recipients.


Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma: Update on Diagnosis and Treatment.
Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is an extremely rare sarcoma, as such it can pose a clinical dilemma based solely on its rarity. Also, the spectrum of disease varies greatly between an indolent disease and aggressive disease with widespread metastases. In our clinical practice, the primary focus has been to get a handle on the aggressive nature of the disease, which will then dictate how urgently one needs to treat the patient. Pathological review with immunohistochemistry and molecular characterization is paramount. Our treatment strategy is watch-and-wait versus active therapy on clinical trial or based on results of prior clinical trials. There is evidence to support the use of chemotherapeutics and targeted therapies specifically focusing on anti-angiogenesis. The current landscape of oncology with the emergence and excitement of immunotherapy could also translate in a role for immunotherapy in this disease. While rare, there is certainly no reason that research and trials for patients with EHE should not remain on utmost importance for those of us who specialize in the treatment of sarcomas.


Ultrasensitive hydrogen sensor based on Pd(0)-loaded SnO2 electrospun nanofibers at room temperature.
Pd(0)-loaded SnO2 nanofibers have been successfully synthesized with different loaded levels via electrospinning process, sintering technology, and in situ reduction. This simple strategy could be expected to extend for the fabrication of similar metal-oxide loaded nanofibers using different precursors. The morphological and structural characteristics of the resultant product were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS). To demonstrate the usage of such Pd(0)-loaded SnO2 nanomaterial, a chemical gas sensor has been fabricated and investigated for H2 detection. The sensing performances versus Pd(0)-loaded levels have been investigated in detail. An ultralow limit of detection (20 ppb), high response, fast response and recovery, and selectivity have been obtained on the basis of the sensors operating at room temperature. The combination of SnO2 crystal structure and catalytic activity of Pd(0)-loaded gives a very attractive sensing behavior for applications as real-time monitoring gas sensors.


[High-dose phenobarbital therapy is effective for the control of intractable tonic seizure with apnea in a case of multiple anomalies syndrome].
An 11-month-old boy with multiple surface anomalies and respiratory distress due to upper airway narrowing developed generalized tonic seizures coinciding with apnea. The ictal electroencephalography showed an abrupt onset of right-sided unilateral rapid activity with increasing amplitude followed by bursts of spike and wave complexes. The seizures were completely controlled with non-intravenous high-dose phenobarbital therapy. The serum level of phenobarbital at seizure control was 8 microg/ml. The serum level of phenobarbital peaked as high as 123 microg/ml; the patient developed neither liver function abnormality nor hypotension which necessitated any pressor agents. Although the patient was intubated, spontaneous respiration was intact after seizure control. Extubation, however, failed twice because of diminished cough reflex. After decrease of the phenobarbital dose and the development of drug tolerance, the patient was successfully weaned from respiratory support. High-dose phenobarbital therapy is effective for refractory epilepsy in patients complicated by respiratory distress. Although it was reported that respiratory depression was not severe with high-dose phenobarbital therapy, respiratory status may worsen in such patients due to the diminished cough reflex. Therefore the careful and prolonged management is essential.


Health in older women athletes.
Physical activity has been identified as a protective factor against a wide spectrum of diseases, but little is known about the link between older women's health and their professional involvement in sport in the past. The aim of this narrative review is to characterize and summarize the available data concerning the influence of physical activity on morbidity and mortality in former female athletes. Concerning bone health, it seems that physical activity in the past can be protective against osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, but these data come from observational studies only. Also the cardiovascular system appears to benefit in older women from regular sport in the past. This refers mainly to better heart efficiency, and improved endothelial function and metabolic profile. The incidence of different types of neoplasms, especially breast cancer, is also decreased in former athletes. Professional sport, on the other hand, acts negatively on the pelvic floor and is a risk factor for urinary incontinence. The overall effect on mortality is difficult to assess, because of many parameters, such as the sport's intensity, variety of the sport and exposure to extreme danger in some disciplines. Also, caution should be kept in interpretation of the data because of the shortage of well-designed studies.


Improved liquid chromatographic method for determination of aflatoxins in peanut butter and other commodities.
A combination of the extraction and cleanup procedures of Pons and Franz with the liquid chromatographic (LC) derivatization technique of Beebe is proposed as an accurate, precise, and sensitive method for determination of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 in various foodstuffs. Mean recoveries of total aflatoxins added in the range 15-34 ng/g to peanut butter were 86-94% in 2 laboratories. Recovery of total aflatoxins (30 ng/g) from shelled peanuts, shelled Brazil nuts, pistachios, cashews, walnuts, and filberts exceeded 86% and from pumpkin seeds was 80%. Coefficients of variation for total aflatoxins were less than 7% for spiked samples and 15% for peanuts naturally contaminated with 16.7 ng/g of total aflatoxin (B1 + B2). Analyses of peanut meal, yellow corn meal, and peanut butter check samples (AOCS Smalley Series 1980/81 and 1981/82, IARC Series 1982/83) by this method compared favorably with reported averages. The detection limit is about 0.3 ng/g for each aflatoxin.


Spotlight on ionic liquids.
Ionic liquids are an emerging class of materials with a diverse and extraordinary set of properties. Understanding the origins of these properties and how they can be controlled by design to serve valuable practical applications presents a wide array of challenges and opportunities to the chemical physics and physical chemistry community. We highlight here some of the significant progress already made and future research directions in this exciting area.


Draft Genome Sequences of Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Septic Patients.
We present the draft genome sequences of six strains of Escherichia coli isolated from blood cultures collected from patients with sepsis. The strains were collected from two patient sets, those with a high severity of illness, and those with a low severity of illness. Each genome was sequenced by both Illumina and PacBio for comparison.


Site-specific regulation of tissue dendritic cell function by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating-factor.
Tissue dendritic cells (DC) are usually associated with phagocytic function but poor T-cell immunostimulatory capacity. Following activation, dendritic cells are stimulated to leave tissue sites and migrate to lymphoid tissue, acquiring immunostimulatory capacity during the process. We provide evidence that the immunostimulatory capacity of tissue DC, but not spleen cells, can be affected in situ by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating-factor (GM-CSF). Initially it was found that islet cells from non-obese diabetic and BALB/c mice, which produce GM-CSF, showed significantly higher immunostimulatory capacity than islets from C3H and C57BL/6 mice, which do not produce GM-CSF. Second, pretreatment of nonobese diabetic mice with anti-GM-CSF antibody significantly reduced the immunostimulatory capacity of islet cells, but not spleen cells, although it had no effect on the numbers of cells expressing DC-associated antigens. Therefore the immunostimulatory function of islet DC is partially dependent on GM-CSF. By contrast, spleen DC immunostimulatory function does not show the same dependence on GM-CSF. This may affect the ability of dendritic cells to stimulate autoimmune responses or tolerance.


Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in stage IV gastric cancer as a risk factor for liver metastasis: a univariate and multivariate analysis.
Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels were determined in 68 patients with Stage IV gastric cancers, the objective being to examine the clinicopathological relationship between the metastatic patterns of gastric cancer and the serum CEA level. Of the 68 patients, 31 were diagnosed as cases of liver metastases and 37 as cases of peritoneal dissemination. Serum CEA levels were elevated in 21 of 31 patients (67.8%) with liver metastases and in 7 of 37 patients (18.9%) with peritoneal dissemination (P < 0.01). A univariate analysis showed that liver metastasis correlated with a young age (P < 0.01), the lower portion of stomach (P < 0.05), Borrmann types 1 and 2 (P < 0.01), differentiated type (P < 0.01), and nonserosal involvement (P < 0.05) more than did peritoneal dissemination. A multivariate analysis showed that in addition to Borrmann type 1 and 2, elevated CEA levels (> 2.5 ng/ml) is an independent risk factor involved in liver metastasis. Thus careful follow-up and postoperative adjuvant therapy are required for patients with elevated CEA levels, even with "curative" resection.


The efficacy of Na-butyrate encapsulated in palm fat on performance of broilers infected with necrotic enteritis with gene expression analysis.
To study the efficacy of Na-butyrate encapsulated in palm fat on performance of broiler chickens experimentally infected with necrotic enteritis (NE) with the determination of its protective effect against the changes in the gene expression profiles and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation. A total of 800 one-day-old male Arbor Acres Plus broiler chickens were randomly allocated into four groups for 5 weeks. Na-butyrate was supplemented at dosages of 1 kg/ton for starter diet, 0.5 kg/ton for grower diet, and 0.25 kg/ton for finisher diet (presence or absence). Birds of groups 1 and 2 were inoculated by crop gavages with 4×10(8) CFU/ml/bird of Clostridium perfringens in phosphate buffered saline for 4 successive days, from 14 to 17 days of age to produce NE. Addition of Na-butyrate, encapsulated in palm fat, to ration of experimentally infected broilers with NE resulted in increased final body weight, at 35 days of age, reduced total feed consumption, improved feed conversion ratio, reduced cumulative mortality, and increased production number. There were increased intestinal diameter, intestinal length, and significantly increased the weight of bursa of Fabricius(BF) with higher hemagglutination inhibition titers against Newcastle disease (ND) vaccination versus untreated infected and untreated negative control birds. The results showed increased expression levels of alpha-toxin and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the bursa tissues of broilers infected with C. perfringens. However, the expression levels of these genes in broilers treated with Na-butyrate were similar to the non-infected control group. Supplementation of broilers with Na-butyrate increased the expression level of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and decreased the DNA fragmentation induced by C. perfringens. Na-butyrate significantly improved chicken broiler body weights, increased relative weights of BF, increased antibody titers against ND vaccination, numerically lowered mortality due to C. perfringens infection, increased the expression level of IGF-1, and decreased the DNA fragmentation induced by C. perfringens. Obtained results point out the effectiveness of Na-butyrate encapsulated in palm fat in improving the production performance variables, immune response, and intestinal morphology in experimentally induced NE as well as in non-infected chicken broilers.


Learnable Graph Convolutional Network With Semisupervised Graph Information Bottleneck.
Graph convolutional network (GCN) has gained widespread attention in semisupervised classification tasks. Recent studies show that GCN-based methods have achieved decent performance in numerous fields. However, most of the existing methods generally adopted a fixed graph that cannot dynamically capture both local and global relationships. This is because the hidden and important relationships may not be directed exhibited in the fixed structure, causing the degraded performance of semisupervised classification tasks. Moreover, the missing and noisy data yielded by the fixed graph may result in wrong connections, thereby disturbing the representation learning process. To cope with these issues, this article proposes a learnable GCN-based framework, aiming to obtain the optimal graph structures by jointly integrating graph learning and feature propagation in a unified network. Besides, to capture the optimal graph representations, this article designs dual-GCN-based meta-channels to simultaneously explore local and global relations during the training process. To minimize the interference of the noisy data, a semisupervised graph information bottleneck (SGIB) is introduced to conduct the graph structural learning (GSL) for acquiring the minimal sufficient representations. Concretely, SGIB aims to maximize the mutual information of both the same and different meta-channels by designing the constraints between them, thereby improving the node classification performance in the downstream tasks. Extensive experimental results on real-world datasets demonstrate the robustness of the proposed model, which outperforms state-of-the-art methods with fixed-structure graphs.


What Stops Unwanted Sexual and Social Advances Made by Heavy Drinking College Men?
Although rates of sexual aggression are high among college men who engage in heavy drinking, little is known regarding how often heavy drinking college men initiate unwanted sexual advances towards women that could lead to a potential sexual assault or the reasons why these advances stop or proceed. The present study describes heavy drinking college men's (N = 210) initiation of unwanted sexual and social advances towards women, as well as outcomes of these interactions, including how often these behaviors continue, and men's perception of what stopped the behavior over a 3-month period. Men indicated whether they were in a situation where a sexual partner noted that she does not want sexual activity to proceed further, initiated unwanted sexual contact, initiated unwanted sexual intercourse, attempted to give a woman alcohol when she did not appear to want to drink, or attempted to take a woman to an isolated location when she did not appear to want to go. These unwanted sexual and social advances most often stopped because of women's verbal resistance (i.e., saying "stop" or "no"), or because men engaged in a discussion regarding the women's limits or choices. Given that none of the unwanted sexual or social advances stopped because of bystander intervention, the present study highlights the importance of raising awareness of the effectiveness of women's resistance tactics and continuing to train bystanders to notice and take action to address risky situations.


Spa-1 (Sipa1) and Rap signaling in leukemia and cancer metastasis.
Although Rap GTPases of the Ras family remained enigmatic for years, extensive studies in this decade have revealed diverse functions of Rap in the control of cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, adhesion, and movement. With the use of genetic engineering strategies, we have uncovered essential roles of Rap signaling in normal lymphohematopoietic cell development as well as its crucial involvement in the development of a wide spectrum of leukemia in manners highly dependent on the contexts of cell lineages. Incidentally, recent results also indicate an important role of Spa-1, a Rap GTPase-activating protein, in invasion and metastasis in human cancers. While it is unlikely that Rap can function as a classic oncogene by itself, like Ras, emerging findings unveil crucial involvements of Rap GTPases in the distinct aspects of malignancy, including leukemia genesis and cancer metastasis.


Heat shock proteins in the context of photodynamic therapy: autophagy, apoptosis and immunogenic cell death.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an anti-tumor treatment administered for the elimination of early-stage malignancies and the palliation of symptoms in patients with late-stage tumors, which involves the activation of a photosensitizer (PS) using light of a specific wavelength, which also generates singlet oxygen and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) that cause tumor cell death. Several mechanisms are involved in the protective responses to PDT including the expression of chaperone/heat shock proteins (HSPs). The HSPs are a family of proteins that are induced by cells in response to exposure to stressful conditions. In the last few decades, it has been discovered that HSPs can play an important role in cell survival, due to the fact that they are responsible for many cytoprotective mechanisms. These proteins have different functions depending on their intracellular or extracellular location. In general, intracellular HSPs have been related to an anti-apoptotic function and recently, HSP-induced autophagy has shown to have a protective role in these chaperones. In contrast, extracellular HSPs or membrane-bound HSPs mediate immunological functions. In the present article, we attempt to review the current knowledge concerning the role of HSPs in the outcome of PDT in relation to autophagy and apoptosis mediated-resistance to photodynamic treatment. We will also discuss how certain PDT protocols optimally stimulate the immune system through HSPs.


Strength Assessment of PET Composite Prosthetic Sockets.
A prosthesis is loaded by forces and torques exerted by its wearer, the amputee, and should withstand instances of peak loads without failure. Traditionally, strong prosthetic sockets were made using a composite with a variety of reinforcing fibres, such as glass, carbon, and Kevlar. Amputees in less-resourced nations can lack access to composite prosthetic sockets due to their unavailability or prohibitive cost. Therefore, this study investigates the feasibility of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibre-reinforced composites as a low-cost sustainable composite for producing functional lower-limb prosthetic sockets. Two types of these composites were manufactured using woven and knitted fabric with a vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM) process. For direct comparison purposes, traditional prosthetic-socket materials were also manufactured from laminated composite (glass-fibre-reinforced (GFRP)), monolithic thermoplastic (polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE)) were also manufactured. Dog-bone-shaped specimens were cut from flat laminates and monolithic thermoplastic to evaluate their mechanical properties following ASTM standards. The mechanical properties of PET-woven and PET-knitted composites were found to have demonstrated to be considerably superior to those of traditional socket materials, such as PP and HDPE. All the materials were also tested in the socket form using a bespoke test rig reproducing forefoot loading according to the ISO standard 10328. The static structural test of sockets revealed that all met the target load-bearing capacity of 125 kg. Like GFRP, the PETW and PETK sockets demonstrated higher deformation and stiffness resistance than their monolithic counterparts made from PP and HDPE. As a result, it was concluded that the PET-based composite could replace monolithic socket materials in producing durable and affordable prostheses.


Buscopan or glucagon for endoscopic cannulation of ampulla of vater?
The number of intravenous injections of hyoscine-N-butylbromide (Buscopan) or glucagon required to maintain relaxation of the duodenum during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) were compared in a double blind trial of 55 patients. There was no significant difference in the number of injections. Serum amylase levels after the use of both relaxants were compared in 50 patients undergoing ERCP. No significant difference in the levels of hyperamylasaemia were found.


The Association between Arterial Stiffness, Initial Stroke Severity, and 3-Week Outcomes in Patients with Ischemic Stroke.
Vascular compliance is emerging as a useful cardiovascular risk factor. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between arterial stiffness and stroke severity at presentation and 3 weeks. Forty two patients with acute ischemic stroke (55% male, mean age 71 years) were recruited over 15-months. Stroke subtypes were classified into lacunar circulation infarct (LACI), partial anterior circulation infarct (PACI), and posterior circulation infarct (POCI). Arterial stiffness was measured by QKD (defined as the time interval between the appearance of the Q wave [Q] on the ECG and the arrival of the diastolic Korotkoff [K] sound over the brachial artery in diastole [D]; QKD It is measured in milliseconds) using 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and electrocardiogram monitoring. The measured QKD values were then corrected for a heart rate of 60 bpm and a systolic BP of 100 mm Hg (QKD100-60). Stroke severity was assessed on admission and at 3 weeks using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Regression analysis for all patients showed a weak non-significant correlation between arterial stiffness and stroke severity. However, on performing subgroup analysis using Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) classification, we found that in large-artery atherosclerosis, arterial stiffness predicted stroke severity significantly at baseline (r = .45, b = .093, P = .04), but not significant for cardio embolism or small-artery occlusion subtypes. QKD100-60 and stroke severity were not significantly associated in week 3. There was no difference in NIHSS scores at weeks 0 and 3, or in QKD100-60 between LACI, PACI, and POCI, or dipper versus non-dippers and reverse dippers. Further research is needed to explore the association between QKD and stroke severity.


[Fluorescence Determination of Trace Se with the Hydride-K13-Rhodamine 6G System].
Se is a necessary trace element for human and animals, but the excess intake of Se caused poison. Thus, it is very important to determination of Se in foods and water. The target of this study is development of a new, sensitive and selective hydride generation-molecular fluorescence method for the determination of Se. In 0. 36 mol . L-1 sulfuric acid, NaBH4 as reducing agent, Se (IV) is reduced to H2 Se. Usin3-g I solution as absorption liquid3, I- is reduced to I- by H2Se. When adding rhodamine 6G, Rhodamine 6G and I3- form association particles, which lead to the fluorescence intensity decreased. When Se(IV) existing, Rhodamine 6G and I3- bind less, And the remaining amount of Rhodamine 6G increase. So the fluorescence intensity is enhanced. The analytical conditions were optimized, a 0. 36 ml . L-1 H2SO4, 21. 6.g . L-1 NaBH4, 23.3 µm . L-1 rhodamine 6G, and 50 µmol . L-1 KI3 were chosen for use. When the excitation wavelength is at 480nm, the Rayleigh scattering peak does not affect the fluorescence recording, and was selected for determination of Se. Under the selected conditions, Se(IV) concentration in the 0. 02~0. 60 µg . mL-1 range and the increase value of the fluorescence intensity (ΔF) at 562 nm linear relationship. The linear regression equation is ΔF562 nm =12. 6c + 20. 9. The detecton limit was 0.01 µ.g . L-1. The influence of coexistence substances on the hydride generatin-molecular fluorescence determination of 5. 07 X10(-6) mol . L-1 Se(IV) was considered in details. Results showed that this new fluorescence method is of high selectivity, that is, 0. 5 mmol. L-1 Ba2+, Ca2+, Zn2+ and Fe3+, 0. 25 mmol . L-1 . Mg2+, 0. 05 mmol . L-1 K+, 0. 2 mmol . L-1 Al3+, 0. 025 mmol . L-1 Te(VI) do not interfere with the determination. The influence of Hg2+, CD2+ and Cu2+ that precipitate with Se(IV), can be eliminated by addition of complex reagent. This hydride generation-molecular fluorescence method has been applied to determination of trace Se in water samples,


How far, how long: on the temporal scope of prosodic boundary effects.
Acoustic lengthening at prosodic boundaries is well explored, and the articulatory bases for this lengthening are becoming better understood. However, the temporal scope of prosodic boundary effects has not been examined in the articulatory domain. The few acoustic studies examining the distribution of lengthening indicate that boundary effects extend from one to three syllables before the boundary, and that effects diminish as distance from the boundary increases. This diminishment is consistent with the pi-gesture model of prosodic influence [Byrd and Saltzman, J. Phonetics 31, 149-180 (2003)]. The present experiment tests the preboundary and postboundary scope of articulatory lengthening at an intonational phrase boundary. Movement-tracking data are used to evaluate durations of consonant closing and opening movements, acceleration durations, and consonant spatial magnitude. Results indicate that prosodic boundary effects exist locally near the phrase boundary in both directions, diminishing in magnitude more remotely for those subjects who exhibit extended effects. Small postboundary effects that are compensatory in direction are also observed.


Primary rhabdomyosarcoma of the cerebellum--a light, electron microscopic, and immunohistochemical study.
A primary cerebellar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) in a six and a half year old boy is reported. Microscopy of the surgical material revealed lobules of closely packed cells with a high mitotic rate, pleomorphic hyperchromatic nuclei and scant cytoplasm. At their periphery, the lobules merged with rounded cells with similar nuclei but more abundant cytoplasm. These areas were surrounded by interlacing fascicles of strap cells, which were occasionally multinucleated and showed cross striations. Electron microscopy (EM) revealed the primitive nature of the closely packed cells; however, occasional intermediate size filaments were present within their cytoplasm and focal basement membrane accumulation was observed. Cells with more abundant cytoplasm had large accumulations of thick and thin filaments while strap cells showed well-developed cross striations. Immunohistochemical studies (peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique) showed vimentin in the primitive cells and desmin, myoglobin and adenosine triphosphatase as the tumor cells appeared more differentiated. Immunoreaction with antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein, S-100 protein and neurofilament protein were negative. Electron microscopic and immunohistochemical studies in this case demonstrated that this was an exclusively mesenchymal tumor with rhabdomyoblastic differentiation and that the pattern of differentiation follows that seen in normal myogenesis.


Bcl11b/Ctip2 is required for development of lingual papillae in mice.
Molecular mechanisms underlying the development and morphogenesis of oral epithelia, comprising the gustatory and nongustatory epithelium, remain unclear. Here, we show that Bcl11b, a zinc finger transcription factor, plays an important role in the development of lingual papillae, especially filiform papillae. In both gustatory and nongustatory epithelium, Bcl11b was expressed in keratin 14-positive epithelial basal cells, which differentiate into keratinocytes and/or taste cells. Loss of Bcl11b function resulted in abnormal morphology of the gustatory papillae: flattened fungiform papillae, shorter trench wall in the foliate and circumvallate papillae, and ectopic invagination in more than half of circumvallate papillae. However, Bcl11b loss caused no effect on differentiation of taste receptor cells. In nongustatory epithelium, the impact of Bcl11b deficiency was much more striking, resulting in a smooth surface on the tongue tip and hypoplastic filiform papillae in the dorsal lingual epithelium. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that a keratinocyte differentiation marker, Tchh expression was severely decreased in the Bcl11b(-/-) filiform papillae. In addition, expression of Pax9, required for morphogenesis of filiform papillae and its downstream target genes, hard keratins, almost disappeared in the tongue tip and was decreased in the dorsal tongue of Bcl11b(-/-) mice. Gene expression analyses demonstrated a delayed onset of expression of epithelial differentiation complex genes, which disturbed barrier formation in the mutant tongue. These results indicate that Bcl11b regulates the differentiation of keratinocytes in the tongue and identify Bcl11b as an essential factor for the lingual papilla morphogenesis.


[Possibilities of traffic-injury prevention using seat belts and their disadvantages].
As a result of the increasing number of serious injuries, and/or deaths caused by automobile accidents, seatbelts, along with other safety items are installed in cars. The idea of having automobile seatbelts came from the aircraft seatbelt. In our country there is no law requiring installation of seatbelts in all automobiles. Most imported cars, however do have built-in seat builts which are more or less used by the drivers and passengers. Wearing seatbelts is a necessity because, according to statistics, of 100,000 registered vehicles, 340.8 drivers and/or passengers lose their lives. In Sweden however, this value is 44.1 or eight times less. The number of injuries in Yugoslavia is also great. One of every three injuries are serious with chances of causing invalidity. The basic cause of death in an automobile accident is being thrown out of the vehicle by inertia during a collision has a five fold less a chance of surviving than if he were not thrown out. Secondary impacts of the passenger's body with objects within the automobile are: dashboard, doors, steering wheel, etc. are also a significant cause of many severe injuries. The force of inertia of a 70 kg passenger when the vehicle in which he is riding decelerates from a speed of 80 km/hr to 0 km/hr in a time span of 0.14 sec, and distances of 2 meters equals 878.83 kg. The greater the force of inertia is: (sometimes reaching 2000 kg). The advantages of the safety belt are in that they prevent ejection and secondary impacts of the passenger with protruding objects within the passenger compartment. Today the 2-point seatbelt is no longer in use, having been replaced by the 3-poing seat belt. The 3-point seatbelt must fit snugly about the wearers body so that it cannot be pulled away more than a distance of one or two fingerbreadths. The automatic 3-point seat belt, (the latest of designs), permits freedom of body movement. Should a collison occur, the seat belt locks in position holding the passenger back against the force of inertia. Disadvantages of the seat belt are illustrated by what is reffered to as the seat belt syndrome which was introduced by the American authors Garrett, and Baraunstein (1962). The presented 2,778 cases involved in automobile accidents, in which at least one passenger in each of the vehicles involved was wearing a seatbelt: 2,325 people). Of these 2,325, 944, 29%, or every third person was injured. 150 of them were injured on their lower torso. 26, or 0.8% were seriously injured. Not one case, however resulted in death. The seatbelt syndrome can be recognized by several characteristic injuries. In the event of a collision, those wearing seatbelts usually sustain multiple bruises and/or lacerations of the head, contusions of the lower abdomen with excoriation, adrasions, internal hemorraging, fractured ankle of foot. When such injuries are confirmed it is necessary to carefully search for injuries to internal organ as they usually accompany the above mentioned...


Optimism, pessimism, cynical hostility, and biomarkers of metabolic function in the Women's Health Initiative.
Psychological attitudes reflecting expectations about the future (optimism, pessimism) and people (cynical hostility) independently predict incident cardiovascular disease and possibly diabetes, but underlying biologic pathways are incompletely understood. Herein we examined the cross-sectional relationship between optimism, pessimism, and cynicism and biomarkers of metabolic function in the Women's Health Initiative. Among 3443 postmenopausal women, biomarkers of metabolic function (fasting insulin [FINS] and glucose) were measured at baseline and used to calculate insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance [HOMA-IR]) and pancreatic β-cell activity (homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function [HOMA-B]). Psychological attitudes were assessed by the Life Orientation Test, Revised (full scale, and optimism and pessimism subscales) and the Cook-Medley cynicism subscale. Multivariable linear regression modeled the association of psychological attitudes with biomarker levels, adjusting for sociodemographics, health conditions, and health behaviors. Because obesity promotes insulin resistance and obese individuals tend to report higher levels of pessimism and cynical hostility, an interaction with body mass index (BMI) was explored. In fully adjusted models, only pessimism remained independently associated with higher FINS and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Scoring 1 point higher on the pessimism subscale was associated with a 1.2% higher FINS, whereas scoring 1 SD higher was associated with a 2.7% higher FINS (P = 0.03); results were similar for HOMA-IR. An interaction term with BMI was not significant. In multivariable models, higher dispositional pessimism was associated with worse metabolic function; these findings were not modified by obesity status. Results extend prior work by linking pessimism to an objective biomarker of insulin resistance in elderly women.


Reactions of gold atoms with nitrous oxide in excess argon: a matrix infrared spectroscopic and theoretical study.
Reactions of laser-ablated Au atoms with N(2)O molecules in excess argon have been investigated using matrix-isolation infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculation. On the basis of isotopic shifts, mixed isotopic splitting patterns, CCl(4)-doping experiments, and the comparison with theoretical calculations, the absorption at 2047.5 cm(-1) is assigned to the OAuNN(-) anion, and the absorption at 1512.3 cm(-1) is assigned to the AuNO(-) anion, respectively. No evidence is found for the formation of new neutral and cationic products in the present experiments. It is predicted that the OAuNN(-) anion is a linear singlet molecule and the AuNO(-) anion is a bent doublet molecule. The agreement between the experimental and calculated vibrational frequencies, relative absorption intensities, and isotopic shifts supports the identifications of these species from the matrix infrared spectra. Plausible reaction pathways have also been discussed for the formation of these products.


On Multi-Hop Decode-and-Forward Cooperative Relaying for Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks.
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) will play a fundamental role in the realization of Internet of Things and Industry 4.0. Arising from the presence of spatially distributed sensor nodes in a sensor network, cooperative diversity can be achieved by using the sensor nodes between a given source-destination pair as intermediate relay stations. In this paper, we investigate the end-to-end average bit error rate (BER) and the channel capacity of a multi-hop relay network in the presence of impulsive noise modeled by the well-known Middleton's class-A model. Specifically, we consider a multi-hop decode-and-forward (DF) relay network over Nakagami-m fading channel due to its generality, but also due to the absence of reported works in this area. Closed-form analytical expressions for the end-to-end average BER and the statistical properties of the end-to-end channel capacity are obtained. The impacts of the channel parameters on these performance quantities are evaluated and discussed.


Progressive massive fibrosis in patients with pneumoconiosis: utility of MRI in differentiating from lung cancer.
Background It is occasionally difficult to distinguish progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) from lung cancer on computed tomography (CT) in patients with pneumoconiosis. Purpose To evaluate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of PMF and to assess its ability to differentiate PMF from lung cancer. Material and Methods Between 2000 and 2014, 40 pulmonary lesions suspected to be lung cancer on the basis of CT in 28 patients with known pneumoconiosis were evaluated. Twenty-four of the 40 lesions were pathologically or clinically diagnosed as PMF. The signal pattern on T2-weighted (T2W) images, post-contrast enhancement pattern on T1-weighted (T1W) images, and the pattern of the time intensity curve (TIC) on contrast-enhanced dynamic studies were evaluated. All images were analyzed independently by two chest radiologists. Results All 24 PMF lesions showed low signal intensity (SI) on T2W images (sensitivity, 100%), while 15 of 16 lung cancer lesions showed intermediate or high SI on T2W images (specificity, 94%) when PMF was regarded as a positive result. Six of 17 PMF lesions showed a homogeneous enhancement pattern (sensitivity, 35%), and 4/9 lung cancer lesions showed an inhomogeneous or a ring-like enhancement pattern (specificity, 44%). Six of 16 PMF lesions showed a gradually increasing enhancement pattern (sensitivity, 38%), and 7/9 lung cancer lesions showed rapid enhancement pattern (specificity, 78%). Conclusion When differentiation between PMF and lung cancer in patients with pneumoconiosis is difficult on CT, an additional MRI study, particularly the T2W imaging sequence, may help differentiate between the two.


Serum basic fetoprotein in patients with renal cell carcinoma.
Serum basic fetoprotein (BFP), immunosuppressive acid protein (IAP), and tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) levels were measured in patients with renal cell carcinoma. The positive rates of serum BFP, IAP, and TPA were 47%, 79%, and 42%, respectively. Serum levels and positive rates were found to be elevated according to the degree of disease advancement. Using a combined assay for the three markers, the positive rate for BFP, IAP, and TPA was 92%, and approximately 100% in Stages II, III, and IV of the disease. Therefore, the combined marker assay improved the diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma. In curative resection patients, the percent of patients whose serum BFP levels returned to normal 1 week after the operation was 85. This was higher than the IAP or TPA levels (18% and 67%, respectively). Moreover, in inoperable patients, serum BFP levels showed a better correlation with the clinical course than serum IAP or TPA levels. Serum BFP is useful for monitoring patients with renal cell carcinoma who have an elevated BFP value.


Novel potent inhibitors of the histone demethylase KDM1A (LSD1), orally active in a murine promyelocitic leukemia model.
Histone lysine demethylases (KDMs) are well-recognized targets in oncology drug discovery. They function at the post-translation level controlling chromatin conformation and gene transcription. KDM1A is a flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent amine oxidase, overexpressed in several tumor types, including acute myeloid leukemia, neuroblastoma and non-small-cell lung cancer. Among the many known monoamine oxidase inhibitors screened for KDM1A inhibition, tranylcypromine emerged as a moderately active hit, which irreversibly binds to the flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor. The KDM1A inhibitors 5a-w were synthesized and tested in vitro and in vivo. The biochemical potency was determined, modulation of target in cells was demonstrated on KDM1A-dependent genes and the anti-clonogenic activity was performed in murine acute promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) blasts. An in vivo efficacy experiment was conducted using an established murine promyelocytic leukemia model. We report a new series of tranylcypromine derivatives substituted on the cyclopropyl moiety, endowed with high potency in both biochemical and cellular assays. The most interesting derivative (5a) significantly improved survival rate after oral administration in a murine model of promyelocitic leukemia.


Unintentional extraction of a coronary stent deployed 4 months earlier during cutting-balloon angioplasty for in-stent restenosis.
In general, coronary stents, when deployed in a coronary artery by conventional balloon expansion, appear to be tightly forced into the vessel wall, virtually precluding intentional or unintentional removal of the stents. Here, we present a case of unintended coronary stent extraction during cutting balloon angioplasty for high-grade in-stent restenosis of a stent successfully deployed 4 months earlier. The blades of the cutting balloon became stuck in the stent struts. Retrieval of the cutting balloon was only possible in conjunction with the stent using increased traction. Subsequent vessel closure was recanalized and a paclitaxel-eluting stent was implanted, covering the entire region of the previous stent and rendering an excellent angiographic result. Careful inspection of the extracted stent demonstrated complete removal. Retrospective analysis of the stent implantation procedure 4 months prior revealed complete stent expansion and closely matched stent and vessel dimensions as assessed by angiographic criteria.


[Association of transforming growth factor-β1 with pathological grading of intervertebral disc degeneration].
To explore the role of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in intervertebral disc degeneration and its association with the pathological grading of disc degeneration. Normal and degenerative intervertebral disc tissues were collected were classified into 5 grades of increasing degenerative changes. HE staining, immunohistochemistry, TUNEL staining and RT-PCR were used to detect the expression of TGF-β1 in the disc tissues. Immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR showed positive expressions of TGF-β1 and Bcl-2 in normal disc tissues, where Bax was expressed at have a trace level. In the degenerative disc tissues, TGF-β1 expression increased with the pathological grades; the expression levels of TGF-β1 showed significant differences between degenerative and normal tissues and between grade IV and grade I disc tissues (P<0.01). TGF-β1 is an important factor participating in the disc degeneration and its expression level is closely related to the pathological grade of degenerative discs.


[Monogenic forms of diabetes mellitus].
Through the years the evolution of the concepts in the different classifications of Diabetes Mellitus keep a close relationship with the advance of the scientific knowledge of this matter. In this way the last classification adopted in 1995 by the American Association of Diabetes and the World Health Organization has an etiologic basis, but in some aspects is already obsolete. With the new knowledges this classification should be modified including a group dedicated to monogenic diabetes. In this group should be considered diabetes MODY 1 to 6, constituted by the forms expressed by mutations of transcription factors and the glucokinase enzyme. There are other patients named MODY X, because the responsible genes of the diseases have not been identified yet. Also in this section might be included the mutations of the Kir6.2 subunit of the K+ channel recently described in the beta cell. It is possible that in a near future other forms will be described, which will contribute to a better understanding of the monogenic diabetes.


The effect of substituting phosphotyrosine for sulphotyrosine on the activity of hirudin.
Recombinant hirudin (hirudin), which lacks the sulphate group on Tyr-63, has a tenfold-reduced affinity for alpha-thrombin. Incubation of recombinant hirudin with [gamma-32P]ATP and protein tyrosine kinase III from spleen resulted in incorporation of radioactivity into the protein. Phosphatohirudin was purified to homogeneity (overall yield 5%) and shown to contain 1 mol phosphate/mol protein, as a phosphotyrosyl residue at position 63. The kinetics of the inhibition of human alpha-thrombin by phosphatohirudin were determined. It was found that the introduction of the negatively charged phosphate had fully restored the affinity of recombinant hirudin for alpha-thrombin to the level of the wild-type sulphatohirudin. The inhibition constant of phosphatohirudin was 18 fM compared with 20 fM for that of sulphatohirudin. Moreover, the values for the on- and off-rate constants of both forms of hirudin were indistinguishable.


LOWER MARINE FUNGUS ASSOCIATED WITH BLACK LINE DISEASE IN STAR CORALS (MONTASTREA ANNULARIS, E. & S.).
A disease of corals called "black line" has become widespread in the Caribbean reefs. Although its etiology has not been determined, a lower marine fungus was found closely associated with the disease. Corals of the species Montastrea annularis (star coral) were collected from scattered areas of the Venezuelan reefs. Histological examinations of black line-diseased corals showed this unidentified fungus in and nearby all of the diseased tissue. The branched fungal hyphae lacked septa and ranged in size from 5 to 10 µm long and from 2.5 to 3.0 µm wide. No hyphae were found in black line disease-free areas. No fungi have been detected previously in soft coral tissue. The study of this naturally occurring infection could yield important information concerning pathological processes in corals.


In vitro antimycotic activity and nail permeation models of a piroctone olamine (octopirox) containing transungual water soluble technology.
Several in vitro studies with a new medical device (Myfungar) containing 0.5% of piroctone olamine (CAS 68890-66-4, octopirox) in a hydroxypropyl chitosan hydroalcoholic solution were performed. The chemical name of the active ingredient is 1-hydroxy-4-methyl-6 (2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)-2(1H)-pyridone; combination with 2-amino-ethanol (1:1). The antimycotic activity was determined in the most common fungi responsible of nail infections such as Candida parapsilosis, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis or Trichophyton rubrum. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), found by means of the broth dilution susceptibility method, ranged between 0.0003% and 0.006% for all pathogens considered. The in vitro permeation study was performed by using bovine hoof membranes inserted in a modified Gummer vertical permeation cell. The experiment showed, at 30 h, a retention of the product in the nail membranes by 11.1% of the applied dose. No piroctone permeation through bovine hoof membranes could be detected by HPLC due to the limit of quantitation of this method. On the other hand, permeation of nail membranes has been demonstrated by a biological assay: the study of in vitro permeation through bovine hoof membranes, performed by biological assay, showed dose-dependent inhibition rings of T. rubrum growth by the tested device, placed either on disks for antibiogram or on nail fragments. The placebo did not show any inhibition. In vitro experimental infection by T. rubrum showed a preventive activity of the tested device on fungal growth as well as a curative activity, as the pathogen was eradicated by the tested solution in previously infected nails.


Acinetobacter portensis sp. nov. and Acinetobacter guerrae sp. nov., isolated from raw meat.
The taxonomic status of six strains of Acinetobacter obtained from meat samples, collected from supermarkets in Porto, Portugal, was investigated using polyphasic analysis. Partial rpoB sequence similarities lower than 95 % to other Acinetobacter species with validly published names led to the hypothesis that these strains represented novel species. This was confirmed based on comparative multilocus sequence analysis, which included the gyrB, recA and 16S rRNA genes, revealing that these strains represented two coherent lineages that were distinct from each other and from all known species. The names Acinetobacter portensis sp. nov. (comprising four strains) and Acinetobacter guerrae sp. nov. (comprising two strains) are proposed for these novel species. The species status of these two groups was confirmed by low (below 95 %) whole-genome sequence average nucleotide identity values and low (below 70 %) digital DNA-DNA hybridization similarities between the whole-genome sequences of the proposed type strains of each novel species and the representatives of the known Acinetobacter species. Phylogenomic treeing from core genome analysis supported these results. The coherence of each new species lineage was supported by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry differentiation of the species at the protein level, by cellular fatty acid profiles, and by unique and differential combinations of metabolic and physiological properties shared by each novel species. The type strain of A. portensis sp. nov. is AC 877T (=CCUG 68672T=CCM 8789T) and the type strain of A. guerrae sp. nov. is AC 1271T (=CCUG 68674T=CCM 8791T).


No recovery of memory when cognitive load is decreased.
There is substantial debate in the field of short-term memory (STM) as to whether the process of active maintenance occurs through memory-trace reactivation or repair. A key difference between these 2 potential mechanisms is that a repair mechanism should lead to recovery of forgotten information. The ability to recover forgotten memories would be a panacea for STM and if possible, would warrant much future research. We examine the topic of STM recovery by varying the cognitive load of a secondary task and duration of retention of word pairs. In our key manipulation, we lighten the cognitive load partway through the retention interval, resulting in an easier task during the later portion of retention and more time for active maintenance processes to take place. Although the natural prediction arising from a repair mechanism is that memory accuracy should increase after transitioning to an easier load, we find that accuracy decreases or levels off at this point. We see this pattern across 3 experiments and can only conclude that the panacea of STM recovery does not exist. Implications for the debate over memory maintenance mechanisms are discussed.


Keeping candles lit: The role of concierge medicine in the future of primary care.
Universal coverage and financial sustainability are two competing aims in primary care. Patient empowerment and patient engagement have been suggested as essential ingredients of the recipe for innovative primary care models aimed at sustaining universal coverage. Concierge medicine is achieving a growing popularity among both scholars and practitioners as a direct primary care practice which allows to bridge the gap between patient empowerment and patient engagement. However, ethical and legal concerns hinder the diffusion of concierge models in the current primary care practices. This manuscript is aimed at providing an evidence synthesis of extant contributions in the field of concierge medicine in order to discuss its attributes and to examine its expected effects on universal coverage and sustainability. For this purpose, a systematic literature review involving 29 manuscripts was performed. The findings of this study pointed out that concierge models could play a significant role in enhancing the access to primary care and in improving the sustainability of the healthcare service system. However, the existing institutional arrangements which regulate the access to primary care should be revised to allow more spaces for the implementation of concierge practices.


Validation of density-functional versus density-functional+U approaches for oxide ultrathin films.
A comparison between available experimental information and the predictions of density-functional and density-functional+U approaches is presented for oxide ultrathin films grown on single-crystal metal surfaces. Prototypical examples of monolayer phases of an ionic oxide (ZnO), a late transition metal oxide (NiO), and an early transition metal oxide (TiO(2)) are considered. The aim is to validate the theoretical approaches, focusing on the prediction of structural features and the reproduction of scanning tunneling microscopy images, rationalized in terms of the local density of states of the systems. It is found that it is possible to reasonably estimate the optimal lattice constant of ultrathin supported films and that the inclusion of the Hubbard U term appreciably improves the accuracy of theoretical predictions, especially in the case of nonpolar ultrathin phases of a transition metal oxide. Moreover, the optimal value of U for the oxide layer at the interface with the metal support is found to differ from that appropriate for the bulk oxide, as a consequence of the intermixing of oxide and support electronic states and screening effects.


The Maastricht Cerebral Monitor (MCM) for the neonatal intensive care unit.
Although long-term monitoring of cerebral activity can be important in neonatal intensive care, the complexity of multi-channel EEG makes it less suitable for this purpose. In the past, a cerebral function monitor (CFM) was developed that analyses EEG. The output parameter of the CFM is a semi-logarithmic amplitude distribution resulting from the amplification, bandpass filtering, compression, rectification and smoothing of the single-channel EEG. Drawbacks of the CFM include its inflexibility and limited single-channel processing capacity and its lack of functionality for data storage, review or re-analysis. Modern computers are powerful enough that a system can be built which does not have these drawbacks. We have developed such a system: the Maastricht Cerebral Monitor (MCM). The MCM is a flexible system that not only overcomes the CFM drawbacks but also provides advanced signal analysis. It was developed with a software system (Poly) for acquisition, high quality real-time display, on-line analysis and storage of physiological signals. The MCM processes three EEG signals in the amplitude and frequency domains. Other parameters provided by the MCM are asymmetry of absolute frequency powers, percentage suppression, mean and 90% spectral edge frequency. Electrode impedance is recorded as a measure of quality of the recording.


Two dimensional gel analysis of HLA-DR2 associated HLA-D clusters.
Five cell lines with different cellular HLA-D specificities associated with HLA-DR2, i.e. Dw2, Dw12, MN2, DB9 and D2J, displayed structural variation in the products of the DR and DQ loci. Analyses of immunoprecipitated DR molecules from HLA-D homozygous B-lymphoblastoid cell lines by two dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed variable patterns with one set of DR beta chains. Another set of DR beta chain products, however, was homogeneous in all cell lines studied. In addition, analyses of DQ molecules showed extremely variant DQ beta chains, and slightly variant DQ alpha chains.


[A Case of Metastatic Carcinoma of Anal Fistula].
A 58-year-old man underwent rectal resection(D2 dissection)for rectal cancer and liver/lung metastases in August 2009. Histopathological findings were Ra, type 2, 70×80mm, tub1>tub2, int, pSI(peritoneum), INF b, ly1, v1, pN1(2/13), pPM0, pDM0, M1a(H1, PUL1), fStage IV . The lung metastasis had disappeared on chest CT after postoperative chemotherapy and we were able to perform radical resection of the liver metastasis by performing hepatectomy twice. In October 2013, anal pain appeared and a painful tumor approximately 2 cm in size was found in the 5 o'clock direction of the anus. Biopsy revealed a well-differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma similar to rectal cancer, and it was diagnosed as a fistula metastasis of rectal cancer.We performed chemoradiotherapy(S-1 120mg/day plus RT 60 Gy/30 Fr)as surgery was recommended but refused. As a result, the tumor reduced markedly in size. In December 2015, the tumor enlarged in size and the patient and family requested surgery. We, therefore, performed abdominoperineal resection. Currently, the patient is alive at 18 months after surgery with no recurrence.


Controlling biomineralisation with cations.
The production of polymers for controlling calcite growth is a well-known approach in biomineralising organisms. Numerous studies have shown that polymers significantly influenced the growth rate and morphology of CaCO3 but little is known about how the polymers are actually controlled by the organisms. Here we show that cations control the effect of polysaccharides and that these processes have been in place for at least 60 million years. We studied the interaction between cleaved samples of pure calcite and ancient coccolith associated polysaccharides (aPS) that we had extracted from the samples of Cretaceous chalk, in solutions that contained one of the common seawater cations, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Sr2+. With atomic and chemical force microscopy (AFM and CFM), we showed that K+, Ca2+ and Sr2+ complex aPS through a weak, outer sphere bonding, giving the aPS affinity to sites on steps and terraces. In contrast, Mg2+ enhanced the formation of stronger and longer aPS complexes, resulting in low affinity to calcite terraces and strong affinity to steps. It is known that adsorption is influenced by ionic potential and ionic strength. Our results show that cation-polysaccharide complexing can modify the effectiveness of the polymer. Thus, creating organic molecules with cation complexing ability is an effective strategy for regulating mineral growth, both now and in the past.


The significance of TPSA, free to total PSA ratio and PSA density in prostate carcinoma diagnostics.
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the one of the most valuable tumor markers for the early detection and management of prostate carcinoma, but not an ideal one because of poor specificity in the case of prostatic hypertrophy and other benign conditions. In order to overcome this drawback some other parameters as is free to total ratio (F/T) PSA and PSA density (PSAD) are introduced. It has been investigated in 60 patients, 18 of them are proved to be found prostate cancer and other 42 were identified as benign prostatic hyperplasia. Patients with CaP had TPSA median of 11.4 ng/ml and the others with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) had 6.9 ng/ml. In these two groups there was statistical significant difference (p 0.01). By receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) estimated cutoff for TPSA was 4.0 ng/ml with 95% sensitivity, 30% specificity and area covered by ROC was in amount of 0.76. Median F/T ratio for patients with prostate cancer was 0.10, and for benign prostatic hyperplasia patients it was 0.25. For these values there is also statistical difference (p). Using ROC cutoff for F/T PSA was determined at the value of 0.18 with sensitivity 95%, specificity 80% and area under the curve (AUC) 0.93. Median for PSAD in the group with CaP was 0.38 and in the BPH group was 0.16. There was statistical significance within those two groups. In conclusion F/T PSA, PSAD and TPSA are valuable tumor markers in distinguishing patients with CaP ant those without with modestly raised TPSA. Also F/T PSA showed up as better marker than TPSA and PSAD in investigated group of patients.


Visual performance with accommodating and multifocal intraocular lenses.
To compare the visual functional outcomes with accommodating and multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs). Our retrospective comparative study included 51 patients (60 eyes) received implantation of an accommodating IOL (Tetraflex; 16 patients, 20 eyes), a refractive multifocal IOL (ReZoom; 18 patients, 20 eyes), or a diffractive multifocal IOL (ZMA00; 17 patients, 20 eyes). Subjective refraction, visual acuity, contrast sensitivity (CS), intraocular aberration, and subjective photic phenomena were detected at 3mo after surgery. The spherical equivalent in the three groups was -0.38±0.54 D, 0.14±0.56 D, and 0.35±0.41 D, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found in uncorrected and corrected distance visual acuity and uncorrected intermediate visual acuity among the groups (P=0.39). The ReZoom group had significantly better distance-corrected intermediate visual acuity than the ZMA00 group (P=0.003). The ZMA00 group had significantly better near visual acuity than the other groups (P<0.05). Better contrast sensitivity values were observed in the Tetraflex group under most of the spatial frequencies conditions (P=0.025). The total aberration was lowest in the ZMA00 group (P=0.000), and the spherical aberration was highest in the Tetraflex group (P=0.000). The three groups had similar frequency of ghosting and glare, and the Tetraflex group had a low rate of halos (P=0.01). Both accommodating and multifocal IOLs can successfully restore distance and uncorrected intermediate visual acuities. Tetraflex accommodating IOLs perform better in CS and with less halos of photic phenomena. ReZoom refractive multifocal IOLs have better performance in distance-corrected intermediate visual acuity than ZMA00 diffractive multifocal IOLs, and the latter achieved better near visual acuity and efficiently decreased the optical aberration.


Deep Learning Architecture to Improve Edge Accuracy of Auto-Contouring for Head and Neck Radiotherapy.
Deep learning (DL) methods have shown great promise in auto-segmentation problems. However, for head and neck cancer, we show that DL methods fail at the axial edges of the gross tumor volume (GTV) where the segmentation is dependent on information closer to the center of the tumor. These failures may decrease trust and usage of proposed auto-contouring systems. To increase performance at the axial edges, we propose the spatially adjusted recurrent convolution U-Net (SARC U-Net). Our method uses convolutional recurrent neural networks and spatial transformer networks to push information from salient regions out to the axial edges. On average, our model increased the Sørensen-Dice coefficient (DSC) at the axial edges of the GTV by 11% inferiorly and 19.3% superiorly over a baseline 2D U-Net, which has no inherent way to capture information between adjacent slices. Over all slices, our proposed architecture achieved a DSC of 0.613, whereas a 3D and 2D U-Net achieved a DSC of 0.586 and 0.540, respectively. SARC U-Net can increase accuracy at the axial edges of GTV contours while also increasing accuracy over baseline models, creating a more robust contour.


Genomic architecture of 5S rDNA cluster and its variations within and between species.
Ribosomal DNAs (rDNAs) are arranged in purely tandem repeats, preventing them from being reliably assembled onto chromosomes during generation of genome assembly. The uncertainty of rDNA genomic structure presents a significant barrier for studying their function and evolution. Here we generate ultra-long Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) and short NGS reads to delineate the architecture and variation of the 5S rDNA cluster in the different strains of C. elegans and C. briggsae. We classify the individual rDNA's repeating units into 25 types based on the unique sequence variations in each unit of C. elegans (N2). We next perform assembly of the cluster by taking advantage of the long reads that carry these units, which led to an assembly of 5S rDNA cluster consisting of up to 167 consecutive 5S rDNA units in the N2 strain. The ordering and copy number of various rDNA units are consistent with the separation time between strains. Surprisingly, we observed a drastically reduced level of variation in the unit composition in the 5S rDNA cluster in the C. elegans CB4856 and C. briggsae AF16 strains than in the C. elegans N2 strain, suggesting that N2, a widely used reference strain, is likely to be defective in maintaining the 5S rDNA cluster stability compared with other wild isolates of C. elegans or C. briggsae. The results demonstrate that Nanopore DNA sequencing reads are capable of generating assembly of highly repetitive sequences, and rDNA units are highly dynamic both within and between population(s) of the same species in terms of sequence and copy number. The detailed structure and variation of the 5S rDNA units within the rDNA cluster pave the way for functional and evolutionary studies.


In Situ Crystallization of the Insoluble Anhydrite AII Phase in Graphene Pockets.
Single-distilled water encapsulated in graphene pockets has been studied by aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy at an acceleration voltage of 80 kV. Inside the graphene pockets, crystallization and in situ crystal growth are reported and identified as the insoluble AII phase of CaSO4 (anhydrite) in a quasi-two-dimensional system. Its formation condition is discussed with respect to the possible temperature and van der Waals pressure between the graphene sheets.


Formal synthesis of squalamine from desmosterol.
The key intermediate to squalamine, (5alpha,7alpha,24R)-7,24-dihydroxy-cholestan-3-one, was synthesized from the 3-O-acetyl-24R,25-dihydroxy derivative of desmosterol via 10 steps in 16% overall yield and squalamine was also prepared via two further steps in 7.4% total yield from the desmosterol derivative.


Effect of biaxial strain induced by piezoelectric PMN-PT on the upconversion photoluminescence of BaTiO₃:Yb/Er thin films.
Thin films of Yb3+/Er3+ co-doped BaTiO3 (BTO:Yb/Er) have been epitaxially grown on piezoelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3 (PMN-PT) substrates. Biaxial strain can be effectively controlled by applying electric field on PMN-PT substrate. A reversible, in situ and dynamic modification of upconversion photoluminescence in BTO:Yb/Er film was observed via converse piezoelectric effect. Detailed analysis and in situ X-ray diffraction indicate that such modulations are possibly due to the change in the lattice deformation of the thin films. This result suggests an alternative method to rationally tune the upconversion emissions via strain engineering.


Rupture of bicornuate uterus.
A primigravida aged 20 years was referred to Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences with diagnosis of 30 weeks of period of gestation with eclampsia and failure to respond to induction with misoprostol and she was on Pritchard regimen for the treatment of eclampsia and there was no response to induction of labour and emergency ultrasound was taken and it showed an extrauterine gestation of 30 weeks gestation with fetal demise and free fluid in peritoneum. A tentative diagnosis of secondary abdominal pregnancy with eclampsia was made and she was taken for emergency laprotomy. Intra operative findings showed haemoperitoneum, fetus with placenta and membranes in the peritoneal cavity, there was bicornuate uterus and right horn was ruptured from the fundus to about 8 cm down in the posterior aspect and ruptured part was sutured in two layers. After securing perfect haemostasis, abdomen was closed. This paper illustrates a case report of uterine anomaly with 30 weeks period of gestation and eclampsia and rupture following induction with prostaglandins.


Depressed growth of Morris hepatomas in altitude- and heat-stressed but not in cold-stressed buffalo rats.
Female inbred BUF rats bearing Morris hepatomas 5123C, 5123D, 7795, and 7800 bilaterally in the femoral musculature were exposed for 3 weeks to ether 4,500-m simulated altitude or sea level or to an ambient temperature of either 7, 23, or 33 degrees C. Rats were given inoculations 12 days before these exposures. Tumor size, body weight, food consumption, and body temperatures were measured weekly in these treated rats and in normal rats. At time of killing, tumor mass, DNA synthesis (by [3H]thymidine incorporation), and respiration (by conversion of [1,4-14C]succinic acid to 14CO2) were measured in each of the 4 hepatoma lines, in the livers of normal and host rats, and in regenerated livers 10 days post 70% hepatectomy. Growths of all 4 tumors and regenerated livers were significantly impaired in rats stressed by exposure to altitude and heat but not to cold. Neither DNA synthesis nor respiration was altered in the hepatomas and livers by any environmental stress. The environmentally stressed rats gained weight at a slower rate and consumed less food than did their controls, but no differences were found in these variables for tumor-bearing and non-tumor-bearing rats. However, whereas the ratio of body weight gain to food consumed was reduced under the three stressful environments, that of tumor weight gain to food consumed was not altered by any environment. Host survivorship was not influenced by any of these effects.


Experience with the Melbourne knee prosthesis, based on the first 35 operations over a three-year period.
The Melbourne knee prosthesis is an improved hinge prosthesis. Its component parts are constructed of a chrome cobalt alloy and ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene. The hinge has a range of flexion of 120 degrees, and while flexed, can rotate 15 degrees in either direction. Over the past three years a total of 45 prostheses have been inserted in patients with chronic degenerative arthritis of the knee joints. This survey covers the first 35 operations. The most gratifying result has been a dramatic relief of pain in 87.5% of patients. There have been few complications, and no prosthesis has had to be removed. There have been no mechanical failures of the prosthesis itself.


[The establishment of the first journals of dermatology and venereology in the nineteenth century].
Medical periodicals specialized in dermatology and sexually transmitted diseases were first published during the second half of the nineteenth century. Their goal was to promote the diffusion of medical knowledge, among specialists (clinical research), as well as towards general practitioners (medical education). Until now, medical journals are the major tool for the diffusion of news and progress in medicine. We briefly describe the first of these dermatological journals: Syphilidologie, founded in 1838 in Leipzig by Friedrich Jacob Behrend; Annales des maladies de la peau et de la syphilis, the first truly dermatological journal, published in Paris from August 1843 to 1852 by Alphée Cazenave; Giornale italiano delle malattie veneree e delle malattie della pelle, founded in 1866 in Milan by Giovanni Battista Soresina; Journal of cutaneous medicine and diseases of the skin, created in London in 1867 by Erasmus Wilson, and which lasted only four years; Annales de dermatologie et de syphiligraphie, founded in Paris in 1868 by Adrien Doyon, which are still published now; Archiv für Dermatologie und Syphilis, published in Prague in 1869 by Heindrich Auspitz and Filipp Josef Pick; The American Journal of Syphilography and Dermatology, the first non-European dermatological periodical, created in 1870 in New York by Morris H. Henry.


Understanding the Nuances of Hepatic Portal Venous Gas in Pneumatosis Intestinalis: An Indication of Bowel Ischemia?
Pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) is a relatively rare gastrointestinal finding that has a wide variety of causes - ranging from benign to life-threatening. It is described as the pathological presence of gas within the bowel wall with multiple hypotheses emerging as to the likely mechanism. An important indicator of a life-threatening source of PI is the presence of gas within the hepatic portal vein, referred to as hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG). While non-specific for isolated PI, HPVG has been reported in PI patients to be associated with bowel ischemia and is thereby considered an indication for emergent management. Herein we report a case involving an atypical presentation of altered mental status in which the patient was found to have PI with contemporaneous HPVG. These findings have been reported to have a high mortality rate. Our patient rapidly deteriorated during their hospital course, expiring shortly after being deemed a poor surgical candidate due to their severe co-morbidity burden. Through this case, we review evidence supporting the management of patients with PI and concurrent HPVG from an extensive review of available literature. While PI is a non-specific finding and commonly a source of diagnostic confusion, a better understanding of its natural course and potentially unorthodox sequela may afford more directed and crucial care for critically ill patients, in which time is often a precious commodity.