Significance of mild cytologic atypia in women infected with human immunodeficiency virus.
To determine the prevalence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in women who are infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and who have mild cytologic atypia. As part of an ongoing, prospective study of cervical disease in HIV-infected women, Papanicolaou smears were analyzed cross-sectionally for the diagnosis of mild cytologic atypia. Mild cytologic atypia was diagnosed in 112 (25%) of the 453 HIV-infected women enrolled in this study, compared with 36 (9%) of the 401 HIV-uninfected women (odds ratio [OR] 3.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2-5.1; P < .001). Mild cytologic atypia was diagnosed more frequently in HIV-infected women with lower CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts (chi2 for trend, P = .015) and in those with a history of an abnormal Papanicolaou smear or treatment for cervical disease (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.2-7.6; P = .008). Coexistent CIN was detected by colposcopically directed biopsy in 42 (38%) of the 112 HIV-infected women with mild cytologic atypia, compared with five (14%) of the 36 HIV-uninfected women (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.3-11.9; P = .008). Severe inflammation with associated epithelial reparative atypia was diagnosed in 90 (20%) of the HIV-infected women and in 87 (22%) of the HIV-uninfected women. Coexistent CIN was detected in 12% of the HIV-infected women with severe inflammation and associated epithelial reparative atypia, compared with 2% of the HIV-uninfected women with this cytologic diagnosis (OR 5.9, 95% CI 1.2-23; P = .01). Mild cytologic atypia, a frequent diagnosis on Papanicolaou smears from HIV-infected women, is associated with CIN. We recommend that all HIV-infected women with mild cytologic atypia be referred for colposcopy.


The nurse as change agent.
Whether an employee of an organization or an independent consultant, the nurse can function as a catalyst and planner for change. Clinical expertise, theoretical knowledge, and a commitment to the outcome of the change project can empower the nurse to successfully assess, plan, implement, and evaluate the change process.


Intersubjectivity in video interview.
The concept of relationship has rapidly evolved over the past few years, since the emergence of the internet network and the development of remote communication and exchanges. The emergence of cyberculture with the development of the internet has led to a new representation of the social link, in which communication never stops. In this context, computer mediated intersubjective relationships represent a main line of thinking and research. Thus, can we consider for example that relationship is only composed of an informational exchange? Would there be other dimensions possibly missing in computer mediated relationships? In this case, how could we re-introduce these aspects, "re-humanize" the remote relationships? New practices in psychology emerge with the ICT usage, both in the fields of research and for therapeutic purposes. Some fields like medicine already use remote health platforms that have proven useful in certain situations. In the field of remote clinical psychology, different media are used that contribute to the framework definition of the remote clinical interview, where the concept of relation holds a central place. Videoconference enables the introduction of an important element from the point of view of sensoriality: the body image, which engages the subjects' interaction in a different way than in a written or verbal exchange. But is the use of videoconference sufficient to establish a clinical framework comparable to the traditional one? How can the computer-mediated relationship enable and establish a potential object relation, rather than a mirrored one? Thinking through an online adaptation of the clinical interview framework led to the elaboration of a specific tool dedicated to this purpose and to research into the access to intersubjectivity in clinical video interview. This study's encouraging results have fostered the pursuit of this experience in the form of a platform dedicated to the conduction of clinical interviews through videoconferencing for psychotherapists and patients at large. A methodological analysis accompanies this research work, in order to continuously observe this specific clinical practice, which can be used in different fields of psychology and different psychotherapeutic methods.


Engineered mussel bioglue as a functional osteoinductive binder for grafting of bone substitute particles to accelerate in vivo bone regeneration.
Xenograft bone substitutes, such as deproteinized bovine bone mineral (DBBM), have been widely employed as osteoconductive structural materials for bone tissue engineering. However, the loss of xenograft bone substitute particles in defects has been a major limitation, along with a lack of osteoinductive function. Mussel adhesive protein (MAP), a remarkable and powerful adhesive biomaterial in nature, can attach to various substrates, even in wet environments. Its adhesive and water-resistant abilities are considered to be mainly derived from the reduced catechol form, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), of its tyrosine residues. Here, we evaluated the use of DOPA-containing MAP as a functional binder biomaterial to effectively retain DBBM particles at the defect site during in vivo bone regeneration. We observed that DOPA-containing MAP was able to bind DBBM particles easily to make an aggregate, and grafted DBBM particles were not lost in a defect in the rat calvaria during the healing period. Importantly, grafting of a DOPA-containing MAP-bound DBBM aggregate resulted in remarkably accelerated in vivo bone regeneration and even bone remodeling. Interestingly, we found that the DOPA residues in the modified MAP had an osteoinductive ability based on clear observation of the in vivo maturation of new bones with a similar bone density to the normal bone and of the in vitro osteogenic differentiation of osteoblast cells. Collectively, DOPA-containing MAP is a promising functional binder biomaterial for xenograft bone substitute-assisted bone regeneration with enhanced osteoconductivity and acquired osteoinductivity. This mussel glue could also be successfully utilized as a potential biomaterial for general bone tissue engineering.


Are sonographic characteristics associated with progression to surgery in men with Peyronie's disease?
Traditionally, diagnosis and treatment plans for Peyronie's disease have been based on history and physical examination. Penile ultrasound provides rapid, anatomical information to establish disease severity, and to monitor progression and response to medical therapy. We determined the relationship between ultrasound characteristics and progression to surgical intervention in men with Peyronie's disease. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 518 patients with Peyronie's disease. Patients completed a Peyronie's disease specific questionnaire detailing medical history, health related behaviors and Peyronie's disease characteristics, and underwent sonographic evaluation of the penis. Measurements of subtunical calcifications, septal fibrosis, tunical thickening (tunica thickness greater than 2 mm) and intracavernous fibrosis were made. Progression to surgery was determined from the medical record. In this cohort (mean patient age 53.8 years, range 20 to 78) 31% of patients had calcifications, 50% had tunical thickening, 20% had septal fibrosis and 15% had intracavernous fibrosis. Overall 25% of the cohort progressed to surgical intervention after an average followup of 1.25 years (range 0 to 7.6). Patients who underwent surgery were more likely to have subtunical calcifications present at the first clinic visit (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.16-2.62). No other sonographic characteristics were associated with progression to surgery. After adjustment for age, marital status, degree of curvature, additional penile deformity, difficulty with penetration, ability to have intercourse and prior treatment for Peyronie's disease, calcifications were strongly associated with progression to surgery (OR 2.75, 95% CI 1.25-3.45). In a large cohort of patients with Peyronie's disease the presence of sonographically detected sub-tunical calcifications during the initial office evaluation was independently associated with subsequent surgical intervention.


Heavy metals modulate DNA compaction and methylation at CpG sites in the metal hyperaccumulator Arabidopsis halleri.
Excess heavy metals affect plant physiology by inducing stress symptoms, however several species have evolved the ability to hyperaccumulate metals in above-ground tissues without phytotoxic effects. In this study we assume that at subcellular level, different strategies were adopted by hyperaccumulator versus the non-accumulator plant species to face the excess of heavy metals. At this purpose the comet assay was used to investigate the nucleoid structure modifications occurring in response to Zn and Cd treatments in the I16 and PL22 populations of the hyperaccumulator Arabidopsis halleri versus the nonaccumulator species Arabidopsis thaliana. Methy-sens comet assay and RT-qPCR were also performed to associate metal induced variations in nucleoids with possible epigenetic modifications. The comet assay showed that Zn induced a mild but non significant reduction in the tail moment in A. thaliana and in both I16 and PL22. Cd treatment induced an increase in DNA migration in nuclei of A. thaliana, whereas no differences in DNA migration was observed for I16, and a significant increase in nucleoid condensation was found in PL22 Cd treated samples. This last population showed higher CpG DNA methylation upon Cd treatment than in control conditions, and an up-regulation of genes involved in symmetric methylation and histone deacetylation. Our data support the hypothesis of a possible role of epigenetic modifications in the hyperaccumulation trait to cope with the high Cd shoot concentrations. In addition, the differences observed between PL22 and I16 could reinforce previous suggestions of divergent strategies for metals detoxification developing in the two metallicolous populations.


Sacral nerve stimulation for fecal incontinence: results of a 120-patient prospective multicenter study.
Sacral nerve stimulation has been approved for use in treating urinary incontinence in the United States since 1997, and in Europe for both urinary and fecal incontinence (FI) since 1994. The purpose of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of sacral nerve stimulation in a large population under the rigors of Food and Drug Administration-approved investigational protocol. Candidates for SNS who provided informed consent were enrolled in this Institutional Review Board-approved multicentered prospective trial. Patients showing > or =50% improvement during test stimulation received chronic implantation of the InterStim Therapy (Medtronic; Minneapolis, MN). The primary efficacy objective was to demonstrate that > or =50% of subjects would achieve therapeutic success, defined as > or =50% reduction of incontinent episodes per week at 12 months compared with baseline. A total of 133 patients underwent test stimulation with a 90% success rate, and 120 (110 females) of a mean age of 60.5 years and a mean duration of FI of 6.8 years received chronic implantation. Mean follow-up was 28 (range, 2.2-69.5) months. At 12 months, 83% of subjects achieved therapeutic success (95% confidence interval: 74%-90%; P < 0.0001), and 41% achieved 100% continence. Therapeutic success was 85% at 24 months. Incontinent episodes decreased from a mean of 9.4 per week at baseline to 1.9 at 12 months and 2.9 at 2 years. There were no reported unanticipated adverse device effects associated with InterStim Therapy. Sacral nerve stimulation using InterStim Therapy is a safe and effective treatment for patients with FI.


The effects of resource subsidy duration in a detritus-based stream ecosystem: A mesocosm experiment.
Most resource subsidies are temporally variable, dynamically affecting the consumer populations, community structures and ecosystem functions of recipient ecosystems. Temporally variable resource subsidies are characterized by the duration, magnitude, timing and frequency of resource subsidy inputs. These different characteristics may have different mechanisms by which to affect recipient ecosystems. Few studies have examined the duration of resource subsidy inputs on recipient ecosystems, although there exist previous studies focusing on magnitude, timing and frequency. We provide the first experimental test of the effects of subsidy duration on a stream ecosystem by using an outdoor mesocosm experiment, in which we directly manipulated the subsidy duration (pulsed vs. prolonged) of terrestrial invertebrate input into the mesocosm. Given the same overall amount of terrestrial invertebrate subsidy was added, a prolonged subsidy allowed large-stage fish to effectively monopolize the subsidy over small-stage fish, which led small-stage fish to maintain their predation pressure on in-situ prey, that is, benthic invertebrates. On the other hand, a pulsed subsidy allowed small-stage fish to increase their feeding rate of the subsidy and to become away from foraging in-situ prey. Consequently, weaker indirect positive effects on in-situ benthic prey and leaf break-down rate were found with the prolonged versus pulsed subsidy. However, these indirect effects varied by the dominant benthic prey species, which differed in edibility for fish. Such predator-specific vulnerability of benthic prey can be important in mediating trophic cascades in detritus-based stream food webs. Phenological events that generate temporal subsidies (e.g. salmon spawning run and arthropod emergence) can be synchronized (pulsed) or desynchronized (prolonged) within and among species, depending on the degree of spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity. The effects of subsidy duration would thus be important to better understand ecological processes in spatially and temporally coupled ecosystems.


Impact of streambed morphology on the abundance and activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria.
Ammonia oxidizers catalyze the first step of nitrification. Combined microbial nitrification-denitrification activities are essential for the removal of excess nitrogen from water bodies. In sandy streambeds, bed form structures are created by water flow and lead to the creation of heterogeneous microenvironments. The objective of this study, therefore, was to investigate the effect of bed form morphology on the abundance and activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) within a benthic biofilm. An 8-month-old benthic biofilm was established in a recirculating laboratory flume under controlled flow conditions and frequent amendment with ammonium. The sand bed was arranged into bed form structures. The highest concentrations of chlorophyll a (indicative of algae) were measured on the upstream side of the bed forms. The biofilm was dominated by Nitrosospira species, and amoA gene abundance was higher on the downstream sides of the bed forms with no significant difference in oxygen consumption between the upstream and downstream sections of the bed form. In contrast, potential ammonium oxidation rates were higher on the upstream sides of the bed forms. The results suggest that bed form morphology can affect the spatial distribution and activity of AOB, possibly through the creation of distinct microhabitats. These results contribute to our understanding of nitrogen transformations and removal from streams.


Factors Facilitating Academic-Community Research Partnerships With African American Churches: Recruitment Process for a Community-Based, Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
African American (AA) churches are valuable partners in implementing health promotion programming (HPP) to combat health disparities. The study purpose was to evaluate AA church characteristics associated with enrollment into the FAITH! (Fostering African American Improvement in Total Health) Trial, a community-based, cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a mobile health intervention for cardiovascular health promotion among AA churches. Churches located in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Rochester, Minnesota were invited to complete an electronic screening survey and follow-up telephone interview including the PREACH (Predicting Readiness to Engage African American Churches in Health) tool to assess church characteristics and infrastructure for HPP. The primary outcome was church enrollment in the FAITH! Trial. Key predictors included overall PREACH scores and its subscales (Personnel, Physical Structure, Faith-based Approach, Funding), congregation size, and mean congregation member age. Of the 26 churches screened, 16 (61.5%) enrolled in the trial. The enrolled churches had higher overall mean PREACH scores (36.1 vs. 30.2) and subscales for Personnel (8.8 vs. 5.6), Faith-based Approach (11.0 vs. 9.6), and Funding (7.3 vs. 4.8) compared with non-enrolled churches; all differences were not statistically significant due to small sample size. Twelve (75.0%) of the enrolled churches had >75 members versus six (60.0%) of the non-enrolled churches. Twelve (80.0%) of the enrolled churches had an average congregation member age ≤54 years versus six (67.0%) of the non-enrolled churches. AA churches enrolling into a community-based RCT reported greater infrastructure for HPP, larger congregations, and members of younger age. These characteristics may be helpful to consider among researchers partnering with AA churches for HPP studies.


Bioequivalue of two mycophenolate sodium enteric-coated tablets and the drug monitoring based on limited sampling strategy: A single-center, randomized, open-label, three-period, reference-replicated, crossover study.
A mycophenolate sodium enteric-coated tablet has shown a satisfying anti-rejection effect in patients receiving solid organ transplantation. The current study evaluated the bioequivalence between the test (Ruiyirong®) vs. reference (Myfortic®) formulations by exploring equations for predicting their area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) using a limited sampling strategy in healthy subjects. Forty-eight healthy Chinese subjects were randomized into three administration sequences (test-reference-reference, reference-reference-test, and reference-test-reference) to receive the Ruiyirong or Myfortic treatment on days 1, 8, and 15. The 90% confidential interval (CI) of the geometric mean ratios (test/reference) of maximum plasma concentration (Cmax), the AUC from time 0 to the last timepoint (AUC0-t), and the AUC from 0 to infinity (AUC0-∞) was 92.90%-110.57%, 96.91%- 101.80%, and 96.71%-101.84%, respectively. All these values fell into the bioequivalence criteria of 80.00%-125.00% (based on the criteria of the Food and Drug Administration). The adverse events were 10.4% in Ruiyirong test group and 14.6% in Myfortic reference group. Eight equations for estimating the AUC of the Ruiyirong test and Myfortic reference formulations were evaluated; most of them worked well with the R-value >0.8. Among the four chosen equations, the intragroup verification exhibited a high agreement with the R-value ranging from 0.857 to 0.971 and with the low predictive error (PE > 5% with absolute PE > 15%). Meanwhile, the intergroup verification indicated a high inter-agreement with the R-value ranging from 0.896 to 0.974 (all P < 0.001). The Ruiyirong test vs. Myfortic reference formulations meet the bioequivalent criteria and are well tolerated. The further linear regression analysis explores eight equations predicting the AUC value and the chosen four equations for the Ruiyirong test and Mayfortic reference formulations are interchangeable.


[Challenges, treatment strategies and clinical progression of MRSA bacteremia].
DISTURBING EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA: Over the past decade there has been a continuous progression in the percentage of Staphylococcus aureus strains resistant to methicillin (MRSA), a slight progression in coagulase-negative staphylococci strains resistant to methicillin and a spectacular progression of enterococci resistant to glycopeptides, not only in hospitals but also in intensive care settings. The increase in nosocomial septicemia is currently a major patient safety issue. HIGHER MORTALITY IN BACTEREMIC PATIENTS: The excess mortality globally observed in cases of bacteremia (compared with patients without bacteremia) is markedly enhanced with regard to secondary bacteremia. Bacteremia is responsible for a significant increase in the overall duration of hospitalization. PROGNOSTIC FACTORS OF STAPHYLOCOCCI BACTEREMIA: The mortality rate is significantly higher in patients in whom initial therapy was inappropriate compared with those in whom it was adequate. The isolation of MRSA strains is a negative prognostic factor. PATIENTS AT RISK OF MRSA BACTEREMIA: Independent risk factors for MRSA bacteremia include prior exposure to antibiotics, a nosocomial origin, a history of hospitalization within the 6 preceding months, and the presence of a decubitus ulcer. To avoid MRSA bacteremias related to catheters, alternatives should be found to their use, all hygiene rules should be carefully respected, the insertion point should be carefully disinfected and protected, and the catheter should be removed as rapidly as possible.


Revaccination With Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine and Infectious Disease Morbidity: A Danish Register-based Cohort Study.
It has been hypothesized that revaccination with live vaccines is associated with reductions in off-target morbidity and mortality. We examined if revaccination with the live measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) is associated with a lower rate of off-target infections. We performed a register-based nationwide cohort study that included 295559 children born in Denmark from April 2004 to December 2010. The cohort were followed from age 47 months (1 month before turning age 4 years, which is the recommended age of the second MMR [MMR-2]) until age 60 months. In Cox regression, we estimated adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRRs) of antibiotic prescriptions and hospital admissions for any infection comparing MMR-2 as most recent vaccine with not having MMR-2 as the most recent vaccine. There was no association between MMR-2 and antibiotic prescriptions (aIRR, 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-1.02). The aIRR for the association between MMR-2 and admissions for infection of any duration was 0.93 (95% CI, 0.88-0.98). For admissions for infection lasting 0 to 1 day, the aIRR was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.90-1.03) compared with the aIRR of 0.84 (95% CI, 0.74-0.95) for admissions for infection lasting 2 days or longer (test for equality of aIRRs, P = .039). In this study, revaccination with MMR appeared safe in relation to off-target infections and was associated with a lower rate of severe off-target infections. More studies of the possible association between revaccination with live attenuated vaccines and off-target infections are needed.


Healthcare use and costs before and after parathyroidectomy in patients on dialysis.
Parathyroidectomy (PTX) is often performed in dialysis patients when medical treatment fails to control secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). PTX is viewed by many as a cost-containing measure for patients who have been treated with vitamin D analogs and calcimimetics. Yet, information about health resource utilization and costs before and after PTX is limited. This retrospective cohort study used professional service and pharmacy claims to identify subjects on dialysis undergoing PTX from 1/1/2008-12/31/2010. Only subjects with at least six months of information before and after PTX were considered. Subjects with primary hyperparathyroidism or kidney transplant were excluded. Prescription use, physician encounters, and surgical complications were compared during the six months immediately before and after PTX. The mean (SD) age of the 181 study subjects was 51 (15) years; 59% female; and 80% insured by Medicare. Overall, the percentage of patients receiving medications to manage altered mineral metabolism increased from 67% before to 79% after PTX. Specifically, oral vitamin D use increased, while the utilization of cinacalcet decreased resulting in mean (SD) monthly medication charges decreasing from $486 (507) to $226 (288) (p < 0.01). The mean (SD) number of physician encounters rose from 15 (14) before to 21 (22) per 6 months after PTX (p < 0.01) resulting in the corresponding increase in mean (SD) monthly charges from $1531 (2150) to $1965 (3317) (p = 0.08). Hypocalcemia was the predominant diagnosis recorded for post-surgical physician encounters occurring in 31% of all subjects; 84% of hypocalcemic episodes were managed in acute care facilities. The cost of medications to manage SHPT decreased after PTX largely due to reduction in cinacalcet use, whereas vitamin D use increased likely to manage hypocalcemia. The frequency and cost of physician encounters, especially in acute care settings, were higher in the 6 months after PTX attributable largely to episodes of severe hypocalcemia. Overall, the reduction in prescription costs during the 6 months after PTX is outweighed by the higher costs associated with physician care.


Impact of Supraventricular Tachyarrhythmia in Patients With Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia.
Supraventricular tachyarrhythmia (SVT), especially atrial fibrillation (AF), has been observed in patients with inherited cardiac arrhythmia (ICA). Data on the time course of SVT and the occurrence of SVT other than AF is limited. In this study, we examined the prevalence, co-existence, and the time course of different types of SVT in patients with various ICAs. In this retrospective study, we selected 393 patients (median 49 years, range 17 to 87, 57% male) from a cohort of patients visiting the outpatient clinic for cardiogenetic screening of ICA. Patients' medical records were examined for the occurrence of AF and other SVT. AF/SVT was found in 49 patients (12%, 31 male, 42 ± 17 years). Patients presenting with only AF (n = 12, 3%) were older than patients presenting with only SVT (n = 28, 7%), respectively 52 ± 18 versus 37 ± 14, p = 0.007. Nineteen patients (5%) had multiple episodes of either AF (n = 7, 2%) or SVT (n = 12, 3%). Alternating episodes of AF and SVT occurred in 9 patients (2%). Intervals between second and third AF episodes were significantly shorter than between first and second episodes (p = 0.02). An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) was implanted in 158 patients (40.2%) and 26 patients (16%) had inappropriate ICD shocks (SVT 25, AF 1), particularly those with multiple SVT episodes (p = 0.003). In patients with a variety of ICAs, episodes of AF/SVT occurred in 12%. In patients with multiple AF episodes, intervals between consecutive episodes became significantly shorter over time. AF/SVT episodes are associated with inappropriate ICD shocks and aggressive therapy of AF/SVT is therefore justified.


Bayesian Device-Free Localization and Tracking in a Binary RF Sensor Network.
Received-signal-strength-based (RSS-based) device-free localization (DFL) is a promising technique since it is able to localize the person without attaching any electronic device. This technology requires measuring the RSS of all links in the network constituted by several radio frequency (RF) sensors. It is an energy-intensive task, especially when the RF sensors work in traditional work mode, in which the sensors directly send raw RSS measurements of all links to a base station (BS). The traditional work mode is unfavorable for the power constrained RF sensors because the amount of data delivery increases dramatically as the number of sensors grows. In this paper, we propose a binary work mode in which RF sensors send the link states instead of raw RSS measurements to the BS, which remarkably reduces the amount of data delivery. Moreover, we develop two localization methods for the binary work mode which corresponds to stationary and moving target, respectively. The first localization method is formulated based on grid-based maximum likelihood (GML), which is able to achieve global optimum with low online computational complexity. The second localization method, however, uses particle filter (PF) to track the target when constant snapshots of link stats are available. Real experiments in two different kinds of environments were conducted to evaluate the proposed methods. Experimental results show that the localization and tracking performance under the binary work mode is comparable to the those in traditional work mode while the energy efficiency improves considerably.


Face-specificity is robust across diverse stimuli and individual people, even when interstimulus variance is zero.
The N170 is a brain electrical potential proposed to index the earliest time of categorical perception of faces in occipitotemporal visual areas implicated in face cognition, being more negative for faces than nonface objects between 120 and 200 ms. The interstimulus variance (ISV) account instead explained N170 face-specificity as an artifact due to objects varying more visually than faces. Ganis, Smith, and Schendan (2012) tested this account directly, finding that N170 face-specificity remains even when ISV is eliminated. Here, N170 peak amplitude and face-specificity is quantified for individual stimuli and participants, revealing that the right hemisphere N170 is especially sensitive to stimulus variability. Further, ISV contributes 0 to 37% to N170 face-specificity. These findings provide evidence for optimizing face processing science. The paradigm can apply to any research in which ISV may be uncontrolled (e.g., category comparisons).


[Needlestick injuries and unprotected sex in the Netherlands].
Needlestick accidents can be divided into occupational and non-occupational accidents. In the Netherlands, occupational accidents are often managed adequately on-site, but the management of non-occupational accidents can be improved. It is questionable whether prophylaxis after unprotected sex (voluntary and involuntary) should be managed using current needle-stick protocols. These accidents require a separate protocol.


Ability of selected lactic acid bacteria to ferment a pearl millet-soybean slurry to produce gruels for complementary foods for young children.
To assess the ability of lactic acid bacteria to improve some nutritional characteristics of the pearl millet-soybean slurry to prepare complementary foods for young children in African countries, inoculation was performed using strains previously selected for their ability to hydrolyse starch, phytate, or alpha-galactooligosaccharides (alpha-GOS). For the sake of comparison with the action of a natural microflora, fermentation was also performed by back slopping inoculation, that is, with a sample obtained from spontaneously fermented traditional pearl millet slurry obtained from a small scale processing unit in Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou). Starter cultures thrived on the slurry as shown by counts on MRS agar, TTGE fingerprints, and fermentation patterns. The fermentation of precooked slurries inoculated by back slopping or with mixed cultures containing the amylolytic strain Lb. plantarum A6 enabled partial starch hydrolysis. Corresponding gruels had a suitable consistency for young child feeding at high dry matter content, and a high energy density: 88.7 +/- 4.2 and 75.8 +/- 5.1 kcal/100 g of sweetened gruel, for the gruels inoculated by back slopping or with Lb. plantarum A6, respectively. Unexpectedly, no decrease in phytates was observed in any of the experiments, suggesting the presence of one or more inhibitory compounds in soybean. Furthermore, preprocessing conditions before fermentation affect the carbohydrate composition of slurry and have a more profound effect than fermentation on the reduction of the alpha-GOS content.


The high leukemogenic potential of Gross passage A murine leukemia virus maps in the region of the genome corresponding to the long terminal repeat and to the 3' end of env.
The Gross passage A murine leukemia virus (MuLV) is a highly leukemogenic, ecotropic fibrotropic retrovirus. Its genome is similar to that of other nonleukemogenic ecotropic fibrotropic MuLVs but differs at the 3' end and in the long terminal repeat. To determine whether these modifications were related to its leukemogenic potential, we constructed a viral DNA recombinant in vitro with cloned infectious DNA from this highly leukemogenic Gross passage A MuLV and from a weakly leukemogenic endogenous BALB/c B-tropic MuLV. Infectious viruses, recovered after microinjection of murine cells with recombinant DNA, were injected into newborn mice. We show here that the Gross passage A 1.35-kilobase-pair KpnI fragment (harboring part of gp70, all of p15E, and the long terminal repeat) is sufficient to confer a high leukemogenic potential to this recombinant.


Removing the redundancy from randomised gene libraries.
Amino acid substitution plays a vital role in both the molecular engineering of proteins and analysis of structure-activity relationships. High-throughput substitution is achieved by codon randomisation, which generates a library of mutants (a randomised gene library) in a single experiment. For full randomisation, key codons are typically replaced with NNN (64 sequences) or NN(G)(CorT) (32 sequences). This obligates cloning of redundant codons alongside those required to encode the 20 amino acids. As the number of randomised codons increases, there is therefore a progressive loss of randomisation efficiency; the number of genes required per protein rises exponentially. The redundant codons cause amino acids to be represented unevenly; for example, methionine is encoded just once within NNN, whilst arginine is encoded six times. Finally, the organisation of the genetic code makes it impossible to encode functional subsets of amino acids (e.g. polar residues only) in a single experiment. Here, we present a novel solution to randomisation where genetic redundancy is eliminated; the number of different genes equals the number of encoded proteins, regardless of codon number. There is no inherent amino acid bias and any required subset of amino acids may be encoded in one experiment. This generic approach should be widely applicable in studies involving randomisation of proteins.


BTLA as a biomarker and mediator of sepsis-induced immunosuppression.
Recent research indicates that T-lymphocyte dysfunction may contribute to sepsis-associated morbidity and mortality. B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is a co-inhibitory receptor expressed by T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes that is important in regulating lymphocyte activation during inflammation and infection. Shubin and colleagues report that higher mean BTLA expression in critically ill patients may have value in identifying patients with infection. Further studies provide evidence that BTLA activation contributes to T-lymphocyte apoptosis during sepsis. Although this study will require follow-up and further investigation, the results advance current knowledge regarding potential mechanisms underlying sepsis-induced immunosuppression and identify BTLA as a candidate biomarker and mediator of T-cell dysfunction during sepsis.


Interferon-free strategies with a nucleoside/nucleotide analogue.
A key to effective interferon- (IFN-) free therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a direct-acting antiviral (DAA) with a high barrier to resistance that can act as the backbone to any regimen. Ideally, this agent should also be active against all HCV genotypes, be well tolerated and have few drug interactions. Nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (NAs) that inhibit the function of the HCV RNA-dependent-RNA polymerase fit these requirements and thus hold promise as a cornerstone for new IFN-free regimens. To date, the issue with this class of agents has been toxicity. Numerous NAs in early clinical development have led to significant toxicity leading to their abandonment. However, sofosbuvir, a prodrug of a uridine NA, has moved through development with a clean-safety profile leading to its recent approval. When combined with ribavirin (RBV) alone, sofosbuvir is effective against genotype 2 and even genotype 3 if duration is extended. There are currently limited data with this combination in genotype 1; however, when sofosbuvir is combined with other DAAs of different classes, it is highly effective in almost all patients. To date, sofosbuvir has been studied with protease, NS5A, and nonnucleoside HCV polymerase inhibitors, including as part of a fixed-dose combination single tablet with the NS5A inhibitor ledipasvir, with very high rates of SVR with as little as 8 weeks of therapy. Combining two DAAs to sofosbuvir may shorten therapy even further. Because of the poor replicative fitness of the S282T sofosbuvir-resistant variant, resistance to sofosbuvir has not been a significant clinical issue in trials thus far. In addition to sofosbuvir, other NAs are in early-stage development. Provided unanticipated toxicity does not emerge, NAs are likely to play a major role as a backbone for future HCV therapy. The rationale for using this class of agents and the clinical data available to date are reviewed.


[Differential regulation of P2X3 protein expression in the rat trigeminal ganglion after experimental tooth movement].
To investigate the regulation of P2X3 protein expression in the trigeminal ganglion sensory neurons after the nociceptive stimulation by orthodontic tooth movement force. Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200-250 g were used. The mimic tooth movement appliance was used in experimental group rats. The animals were sacrificed after 4 h, 1 d, 2 d, 3 d, 5 d, 7 d and 14 d. The semi-quality of P2X3 protein was measured by Western blot. The expression place and strength of P2X3 was detected by in situ hybridization with an oligonucleotide probe in the same time. A major specific protein of 4.5 x 10(4) was found by Western blot in trigeminal ganglion of rats. The expression strength of P2X3 receptor increased after given force to the teeth of rats from 1 day of experiment, 3 day group rats showed peak change. 14 day group had returned to control values. The level change of P2X3 mRNA expression showed the same result. The results suggest that the P2X3 receptor expression is transiently upregulated and anterogradely transported in trigeminal primary sensory neurons after orthodontic tooth movement and that P2X3 receptor may play role in the pathomechanism of nociceptive in primary sensory neurons during orthodontic clinic treatment.


Audiovisual emotional processing and neurocognitive functioning in patients with depression.
Alterations in the processing of emotional stimuli (e.g., facial expressions, prosody, music) have repeatedly been reported in patients with major depression. Such impairments may result from the likewise prevalent executive deficits in these patients. However, studies investigating this relationship are rare. Moreover, most studies to date have only assessed impairments in unimodal emotional processing, whereas in real life, emotions are primarily conveyed through more than just one sensory channel. The current study therefore aimed at investigating multi-modal emotional processing in patients with depression and to assess the relationship between emotional and neurocognitive impairments. Fourty one patients suffering from major depression and 41 never-depressed healthy controls participated in an audiovisual (faces-sounds) emotional integration paradigm as well as a neurocognitive test battery. Our results showed that depressed patients were specifically impaired in the processing of positive auditory stimuli as they rated faces significantly more fearful when presented with happy than with neutral sounds. Such an effect was absent in controls. Findings in emotional processing in patients did not correlate with Beck's depression inventory score. Furthermore, neurocognitive findings revealed significant group differences for two of the tests. The effects found in audiovisual emotional processing, however, did not correlate with performance in the neurocognitive tests. In summary, our results underline the diversity of impairments going along with depression and indicate that deficits found for unimodal emotional processing cannot trivially be generalized to deficits in a multi-modal setting. The mechanisms of impairments therefore might be far more complex than previously thought. Our findings furthermore contradict the assumption that emotional processing deficits in major depression are associated with impaired attention or inhibitory functioning.


Investigation of serum bisphenol A, vitamin D, and parathyroid hormone levels in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a common health problem, and associated with obesity, metabolic syndrome (MetS), and diabetes. Growing evidence shows that 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3 (25-OH-D) insufficiency and high parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels may be correlated to glucose intolerance, MetS, obesity, and cardiovascular abnormalities similar to OSAS. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor agent which exerts a wide variety of metabolic effects. It has estrogenic activity and its exposure may contribute to weight gain, obesity, impaired glucose metabolism, and the development of diabetes, also similar to OSAS. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between OSAS and serum BPA, 25-OH-D, and PTH levels. This study enrolled 128 subjects, with all of the OSAS patients having been diagnosed by polysomnography. The 128 subjects were divided into three groups: a control (n = 43), a moderate OSAS (n = 23) (AHI = 15-30), and a severe OSAS groups (n = 62) (AHI > 30). The serum BPA, 25-OH-D, and PTH levels for each subject were analyzed. 25-OH-D was lower in both OSAS groups, and PTH was higher in the OSAS groups than in the control subjects. The BPA levels were higher in the severe OSAS group than the moderate OSAS and control. There was a positive correlation between the BPA and body mass index, and a negative correlation between the 25-OH-D and BPA levels in all of the individuals. OSAS is related to high BPA and PTH levels, and low vitamin D levels. There is a positive association between BPA levels and OSAS, and the severity of OSAS. These results suggest that the BPA levels may have a role in the pathogenesis of OSAS.


Sex-related clustering of intracranial aneurysms within families.
Family history is important risk factor for intracranial aneurysms (ICA), but the pattern of inheritance is unsettled. If ICA within families would cluster according to sex, this may have implications for risk prediction and screening advice within families. We assessed the relationship between the sex of probands and their affected first-degree relatives (FDRs) within families with ICA. We used data from our prospectively collected database of families with known familial ICA. We calculated relative risks for a female affected proband having a female affected FDR as compared with a male affected proband having female affected FDR with corresponding 95% confidence intervals. We included 148 families with 376 affected FDR. For a female proband the relative risk for having a female affected FDR compared with a male proband having an affected female FDR was 1.2 (95% confidence interval, 1.0-1.6). The clustering of ICA within families is greater in women than in men, with an excess of affected female FDR in female probands. However, because this excess is modest, our findings indicate that sex is not a relevant factor in risk prediction or screening advice in families with ICA.


Conformal Coating of Co/N-Doped Carbon Layers into Mesoporous Silica for Highly Efficient Catalytic Dehydrogenation-Hydrogenation Tandem Reactions.
To maximize the utilizing efficiency of cobalt (Co) and optimize its catalytic activity and stability, engineering of size and interfacial chemical properties, as well as controllable support are of ultimate importance. Here, the concept of coating uniform thin Co/N-doped carbon layers into the mesopore surfaces of mesoporous silica is proposed for heterogeneous aqueous catalysis. To approach the target, a one-step solvent-free melting-assisted coating process, i.e., heating a mixture of a cobalt salt, an amino acid (AA), and a mesoporous silica, is developed for the synthesis of mesoporous composites with thin Co/N-doped carbon layers uniformly coated within mesoporous silica, high surface areas (250-630 m2 g-1 ), ordered mesopores (7.0-8.4 nm), and high water dispersibility. The strong silica/AA adhesive interactions and AA cohesive interactions direct the uniform coating process. The metal/N coordinating, carbon anchoring, and mesopore confining lead to the formation of tiny Co nanoclusters. The carbon intercalation and N coordination optimize the interfacial properties of Co for catalysis. The optimized catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance for tandem hydrogenation of nitrobenzene and dehydrogenation of NaBH4 with well-matched reaction kinetics, 100% conversion and selectivity, high turnover frequencies, up to ≈6.06 molnitrobenzene molCo-1 min-1 , the highest over transition-metal catalysts, and excellent stability and magnetic separability.


Structural Analysis and Identification of Colloidal Aggregators in Drug Discovery.
Aggregation has been posing a great challenge in drug discovery. Current computational approaches aiming to filter out aggregated molecules based on their similarity to known aggregators, such as Aggregator Advisor, have low prediction accuracy, and therefore development of reliable in silico models to detect aggregators is highly desirable. In this study, we built a data set consisting of 12 119 aggregators and 24 172 drugs or drug candidates and then developed a group of classification models based on the combination of two ensemble learning approaches and five types of molecular representations. The best model yielded an accuracy of 0.950 and an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.987 for the training set, and an accuracy of 0.937 and an AUC of 0.976 for the test set. The best model also gave reliable predictions to the external validation set with 5681 aggregators since 80% of molecules were predicted to be aggregators with a prediction probability higher than 0.9. More importantly, we explored the relationship between colloidal aggregation and molecular features, and generalized a set of simple rules to detect aggregators. Molecular features, such as log D, the number of hydroxyl groups, the number of aromatic carbons attached to a hydrogen atom, and the number of sulfur atoms in aromatic heterocycles, would be helpful to distinguish aggregators from nonaggregators. A comparison with numerous existing druglikeness and aggregation filtering rules and models used in virtual screening verified the high reliability of the model and rules proposed in this study. We also used the model to screen several curated chemical databases, and almost 20% of molecules in the evaluated databases were predicted as aggregators, highlighting the potential high risk of aggregation in screening. Finally, we developed an online Web server of ChemAGG ( http://admet.scbdd.com/ChemAGG/index ), which offers a freely available tool to detect aggregators.


Methylene Blue Injection as an Alternative to Antegrade Nephrostography to Assess Urinary Obstruction After Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy.
Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) remains an effective treatment for large stones. When nephrostomy tube (NT) is left post operation, antegrade urine flow is often confirmed with antegrade nephrostography (ANG) before tube removal. We compare methylene blue (MB) test combined with NT capping trial against ANG to assess antegrade urine flow after PCNL. One hundred one consecutive patients undergoing PCNL were prospectively enrolled between 7/2014 and 4/2015. An NT cap was placed the morning of postoperative day 1 (POD1). Failure was defined as need to uncap the NT for any reason. Two hours after capping, 7cc MB was injected into the NT. Positive MB test was defined as presence of blue per bladder Foley. ANG was then performed to assess antegrade urine flow. NTs were removed before discharge home when antegrade flow was documented. Primary outcomes included presence of antegrade flow on ANG and NT removal before discharge home. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and areas (Area under the ROC [AUC]), as well as Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ), were calculated comparing agreement of capping trial, MB, and ANG with NT removal. One hundred one subjects were included in this analysis. 52.9% were left-sided surgeries and 60.4% utilized lower pole punctures. On ROC areas evaluating tests for agreement with NT removal before discharge, MB AUC 0.71 (95% CI 0.60-0.83), capping trial AUC 0.66 (95% CI 0.57-0.75), combed capping trial and MB AUC 0.72 (95% CI 0.61-0.84), and ANG AUC 0.78 (95% CI 0.68-0.88). In predicting NT removal, ANG performed better than capping trial alone (p = 0.042), but no differences were seen between MB and ANG (p = 0.229), combining the capping trial with MB test and ANG (p = 0.266) or combined testing and MB alone (p = 0.972). Combining capping trial with MB injection is similarly accurate for predicting NT removal after PCNL compared to ANG. Capping trial and MB may be used in combination to obviate the need for ANG.


Ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block for postoperative pain control in patients undergoing unilateral inguinal hernia repair, a comparative study between two approaches.
Early postoperative ambulation and reduction of hospital stay necessitate efficient postoperative analgesia. Quadrates Lumborum Block (QLB) has been described to provide adequate postoperative analgesia after abdominal surgery. This randomized comparative trial was designed to compare the duration of analgesia provided by two different QLB approaches; the posterior QLB (QLB-2) and transmuscular QLB (QLB-3) in patients undergoing surgical repair of unilateral inguinal hernia. Forty patients, aged from 18 to 50 years, ASA physical status I or II, scheduled for unilateral inguinal hernia repair were enrolled. At the end of the surgical procedure and before recovery from general anesthesia, Patients were randomly assigned into two groups to receive either posterior QLB (Group QLB-2) or transmuscular QLB (Group QLB-3) using 20 ml 0.25% bupivacaine. Duration of analgesia, postoperative VAS and postoperative opioid consumption were recorded. Duration of block was significantly longer in QLB-3 group when compared to QLB-2 group (20.1 + 6.2 h versus 12.0 + 4.8 respectively) with P value of < 0.001. A statistically significant lower VAS score was recorded in QLB-3 group immediately and 12 h postoperative. QLB-3 group showed a statistically significant delayed time of first analgesic request and less postoperative morphine consumption with P value of < 0.001 and 0.001 respectively. Ultrasound guided postsurgical transmuscular approach of QLB (QLB-3) using 20 ml 0.25% bupivacaine produces more postoperative analgesic effect and less postoperative opioid consumption when compared to posterior QLB approach (QLB-2) in patients underwent unilateral inguinal hernia repair under general anesthesia. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03526731 - on 16 May 2018.


AMBRA1 p.Gln30Arg Mutation, Identified in a Cowden Syndrome Family, Exhibits Hyperproliferative Potential in hTERT-RPE1 Cells.
Cowden syndrome (CS) is a rare autosomal dominant disorder associated with multiple hamartomatous and neoplastic lesions in various organs. Most CS patients have been found to have germline mutations in the PTEN tumor suppressor. In the present study, we investigated the causative gene of CS in a family of PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10) -negative CS patients. Whole exome sequencing analysis revealed AMBRA1 (Autophagy and Beclin 1 Regulator 1) as a novel candidate gene harboring two germline variants: p.Gln30Arg (Q30R) and p.Arg1195Ser (R1195S). AMBRA1 is a key regulator of the autophagy signaling network and a tumor suppressor. To functionally validate the role of AMBRA1 in the clinical manifestations of CS, we generated AMBRA1 depletion and Q30R mutation in hTERT-RPE1 (humanTelomerase Reverse Transcriptase-immortalized Retinal Pigmented Epithelial cells) using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system. We observed that both AMBRA1-depleted and mutant cells showed accumulation in the S phase, leading to hyperproliferation, which is a characteristic of hamartomatous lesions. Specifically, the AMBRA1 Q30R mutation disturbed the G1/S transition of cells, leading to continuous mitotic entry of mutant cells, irrespective of the extracellular condition. From our analysis of primary ciliogenesis in these cells, we speculated that the mitotic entry of AMBRA1 Q30R mutants could be due to non-functional primary cilia that lead to impaired processing of extracellular sensory signals. Additionally, we observed a situs inversus phenotype in ambra1-depleted zebrafish, a developmental abnormality resulting from dysregulated primary ciliogenesis. Taken together, we established that the AMBRA1 Q30R mutation that we observed in CS patients might play an important role in inducing the hyperproliferative potential of cells through regulating primary ciliogenesis.


Emotion regulation in adolescents with anorexia and bulimia nervosa: Differential use of adaptive and maladaptive strategies compared to healthy adolescents.
Adolescents with anorexia (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) often struggle with emotion regulation (ER). These difficulties have predominantly been assessed across emotions, without considering adaptive and maladaptive ER separately. We compared adolescents with AN or BN to healthy adolescents (HCs) regarding the adaptive and maladaptive ER of three emotions. A treatment-seeking sample of 197 adolescents (atypical/full-threshold AN: N = 118, atypical/full-threshold BN: N = 32; HC: N = 47) reported emotion-specific ER with the FEEL-KJ questionnaire. Mixed models were calculated for adaptive and maladaptive ER to assess differences between emotions (anxiety, anger, and sadness) and groups (AN, BN, and HC). Main effects of emotion (p < .001) and group (p < .001) were found, but no interaction effects were found (p > .05). Post hoc tests showed lower maladaptive and higher adaptive ER for anxiety than anger or sadness (p < .001). AN and BN reported lower adaptive (p < .001) and higher maladaptive ER than HCs (p < .001). BN showed the highest levels of maladaptive ER (p = .009). The differences between AN and BN in adaptive and maladaptive ER should be considered. Furthermore, investigating differences in ER of other emotions in eating disorders might be promising.


Puerarin protects the rat liver against oxidative stress-mediated DNA damage and apoptosis induced by lead.
Puerarin (PU), a natural flavonoid, has been reported to have many benefits and medicinal properties. In this study, we valuated the protective effect of puerarin against lead-induced oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis in rat liver. A total of forty male Wistar rats (8-week-old) was divided into 4 groups: control group; lead-treated group (500 mg Pb/l as the only drinking fluid); lead+puerarin treated group (500 mg Pb/l as the only drinking fluid plus 400 mg PU/kg bwt intra-gastrically once daily); and puerarin-treated group (400 mg PU/kg bwt intra-gastrically once daily). The experimental period was lasted for 75 successive days. Our data showed that puerarin significantly effectively improved the lead-induced histology changes in rat liver and decreased the serum ALT and AST activities in lead-treated rats. Puerarin markedly restored Cu/Zn-SOD, CAT and GPx activities and the GSH/GSSG ratio in the liver of lead-treated rat. Furthermore, the increase of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine induced by lead was effectively suppressed by puerarin. The enhanced caspase-3 activity in the rat liver induced by lead was also inhibited by puerarin. TUNEL assay showed that lead-induced apoptosis in rat liver was significantly inhibited by puerarin, which might be attributed to its antioxidant property. In conclusion, these results suggested that puerarin could protect the rat liver against lead-induced injury by reducing ROS production, renewing the activities of antioxidant enzymes and decreasing DNA oxidative damage.


[Protective activity of a bacterial plasmid, bearing the gene for the tick-borne encephalitis virus NS1 nonstructural protein].
Three intramuscular injections (50 micrograms each) with bacterial plasmid pMV45 carrying nonstructural gene of NS1 protein of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus protected 88% Balb/c mice from lethal challenge with the virus. Antibodies to NS1 nonstructural protein were detected in the sera of vaccinated mice after the challenge. Absence of antibodies to E structural protein indicated absence of manifest infectious process in mice vaccinated with plasmid and challenged with a lethal dose of TBE virus.


Towards Automated Emotion Classification of Atypically and Typically Developing Infants.
The World Health Organization estimates that 15 million infants are born preterm every year [1]. This is of concern because these infants have a significant chance of having neuromotor or cognitive developmental delays due to cerebral palsy or other developmental issues [2]. Our long-term goal is to determine the roles emotion and movement play in the diagnosis of atypical infants. In this paper, we examine how automated emotion assessment may have potential to classify typically and atypically developing infants. We compare a custom supervised machine learning algorithm that utilizes individual and grouped facial features for infant emotion classification with a state-of-the-art neural network. Our results show that only three concavity features are needed for the concavity algorithm, and the custom algorithm performed with relatively similar performance to the neural network. Automatic sentiment labels used in tandem with infant movement kinematics would be further investigated to determine if emotion and movement are interdependent and predictive of an infant's neurodevelopmental delay in disorders such as cerebral palsy.


Give and take: An episodic perspective on leader-member exchange.
Research on leader-member exchange (LMX) has predominantly taken a dyadic relationship perspective to understand the differences in overall exchanges across leader-member dyads, while neglecting the within-dyad exchange dynamics across a series of episodic resource transactions. Drawing from the literature on equity and reciprocity principles of social exchange, we develop and test a model of leader-member episodic resource transactions that delineates the momentary psychological mechanism and the boundary condition under which episodic resource contribution surplus generates member subsequent reciprocations. Multilevel polynomial regression analyses of 600 episodic exchange responses from 73 employees show that resource contribution surplus in an exchange episode increased state work engagement immediately following the episode and member resource contribution in the next episode by evoking member momentary sense of obligation to reciprocate. Additionally, the between-dyad LMX relationship quality attenuated these effects by reducing the likelihood to feel obligated to reciprocate due to episodic resource contribution surplus. Our research highlights the microdynamic transaction nature of the exchanges between leaders and members and provides insight into how leader-member dyads exchange resources in episodic interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).


Evaluation of the OnSite (Pf/Pan) rapid diagnostic test for diagnosis of clinical malaria.
Accurate diagnosis of malaria is an essential prerequisite for proper treatment and drug resistance monitoring. Microscopy is considered the gold standard for malaria diagnosis but has limitations. ELISA, PCR, and Real Time PCR are also used to diagnose malaria in reference laboratories, although their application at the field level is currently not feasible. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) however, have been brought into field operation and widely adopted in recent days. This study evaluates OnSite (Pf/Pan) antigen test, a new RDT introduced by CTK Biotech Inc, USA for malaria diagnosis in a reference setting. Blood samples were collected from febrile patients referred for malaria diagnosis by clinicians. Subjects were included in this study from two different Upazila Health Complexes (UHCs) situated in two malaria endemic districts of Bangladesh. Microscopy and nested PCR were considered the gold standard in this study. OnSite (Pf/Pan) RDT was performed on preserved whole blood samples. In total, 372 febrile subjects were included in this study. Of these subjects, 229 (61.6%) tested positive for Plasmodium infection detected by microscopy and nested PCR. OnSite (Pf/Pan) RDT was 94.2% sensitive (95% CI, 89.3-97.3) and 99.5% specific (95% CI, 97.4-00.0) for Plasmodium falciparum diagnosis and 97.3% sensitive (95% CI, 90.5-99.7) and 98.7% specific (95% CI, 96.6-99.6) for Plasmodium vivax diagnosis. Sensitivity varied with differential parasite count for both P. falciparum and P. vivax. The highest sensitivity was observed in febrile patients with parasitaemia that ranged from 501-1,000 parasites/μL regardless of the Plasmodium species. The new OnSite (Pf/Pan) RDT is both sensitive and specific for symptomatic malaria diagnosis in standard laboratory conditions.


The American Red Cross disaster mental health services: development of a cooperative, single function, multidisciplinary service model.
Not until 1989 did the Red Cross officially recognize a need for a systematic and organized plan for the mental health needs of disaster survivors. Over the next decade, the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Services program has developed and evolved to assist both disaster victims and the Red Cross workers who serve them to cope with the overwhelming stresses encountered by both groups in the aftermath of disasters. The Red Cross now coordinates a large and diverse group of mental health professionals from fields of psychology, psychiatry, nursing, social work, marriage and family therapy, and counseling who work together cooperatively. Cross-disciplinary conflicts are minimized by the Red Cross' generic approach to the various mental health professional specialties as functionally interchangeable in performing Red Cross duties. This article reviews the development of this process and describes one local Red Cross chapter's early experience as part of this effort.


Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on surgical activity in the Brazilian private healthcare system.
Surgical volume was drastically reduced in many countries due to challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to estimate the number of cancelled surgical and diagnostic procedures within the Brazilian private healthcare system between 2020 and 2021 over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to project the procedural backlog generated for specific elective and time-sensitive surgeries, and diagnostic procedures. Data were systematically extracted from the Brazilian national regulatory agency for the private healthcare system and included (i) quarterly and annual surgical and diagnostic volume, and (ii) the number of private health insurance beneficiaries between January 2016 and June 2021. Based on pre-pandemic data we estimated the expected number of surgical and diagnostic procedures that failed to be performed between 2020 and 2021. The average quarterly surgical and diagnostic procedures declined by 29.5% in 2020 and by 21.5% in 2021 compared to 2019. In 2020, such reduction reflected a lower number of diagnostic procedures under anesthesia (-35.1%), as well as elective (-14.7%), time-sensitive (-18.8%), and urgent (-4.6%) surgeries. In the first half of 2021, though the surgical and diagnostic procedures increased compared to 2020, they remained significantly below their historical average. The estimated backlogs were 134.385,64 for total surgical procedures, 2.634,64 for bariatric surgery and arthroplasty revision (elective surgeries), 2.845,61 for oncologic (time-sensitive) surgeries, and 304.193,99 for diagnostic procedures, requiring 1.7, 15.9, and 6.8 years, respectively, to make up for such backlogs. There was a major decline on the number of surgical and diagnostic procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a slight recovery of elective surgeries throughout the pandemic, many time-sensitive surgeries and diagnostic procedures were cancelled, with potential medium- to long-term consequences to patients and the system as a whole.


Relative contribution of PDX-1, MafA and E47/beta2 to the regulation of the human insulin promoter.
The insulin promoter binds a number of tissue-specific and ubiquitous transcription factors. Of these, the homoeodomain protein PDX-1 (pancreatic duodenal homeobox factor-1), the basic leucine zipper protein MafA and the basic helix-loop-helix heterodimer E47/BETA2 (beta-cell E box transactivator 2; referred to here as beta2) bind to important regulatory sites. Previous studies have shown that PDX-1 can interact synergistically with E47 and beta2 to activate the rat insulin 1 promoter. The aim of the present study was to determine the relative contribution of PDX-1, MafA and E47/beta2 in regulating the human insulin promoter, and whether these factors could interact synergistically in the context of the human promoter. Mutagenesis of the PDX-1, MafA and E47/beta2 binding sites reduced promoter activity by 60, 74 and 94% respectively, in INS-1 beta-cells. In the islet glucagonoma cell line alphaTC1.6, overexpression of PDX-1 and MafA separately increased promoter activity approx. 2.5-3-fold, and in combination approx. 6-fold, indicating that their overall effect was additive. Overexpression of E47 and beta2 had no effect. In HeLa cells, PDX-1 stimulated the basal promoter by approx. 40-fold, whereas MafA, E47 and beta2 each increased activity by less than 2-fold. There was no indication of any synergistic effects on the human insulin promoter. On the other hand, the rat insulin 1 promoter and a mutated version of the human insulin promoter, in which the relevant regulatory elements were separated by the same distances as in the rat insulin 1 promoter, did exhibit synergy. PDX-1 was shown further to activate the endogenous insulin 1 gene in alphaTC1.6 cells, whereas MafA activated the insulin 2 gene. In combination, PDX-1 and MafA activated both insulin genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays confirmed that PDX-1 increased the association of acetylated histones H3 and H4 with the insulin 1 gene and MafA increased the association of acetylated histone H3 with the insulin 2 gene.


Use of the EntericBio Gastro Panel II in a diagnostic microbiology laboratory: challenges and opportunities.
We sought to verify the performance of the EntericBio real-time Gastro Panel 2 (GP2; Serosep, Ireland) assay targeting Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, verotoxin producing E. coli (VTEC), Giardia, and Cryptosporidium in a high-throughput diagnostic laboratory. Following a technical verification period where 237 faecal samples were tested in parallel, guided culture and discrepancy analysis were performed. A total of 13,223 faecal samples were screened by the GP2 assay. During technical verification, sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive value of the GP2 assay compared with conventional methods were 100% (83-100%), 98% (96.7-98.2%), 100% (98.5-100%), and 82.6% (69-83%), respectively. With guided culture, specificity (99.4-100%) and positive predictive value (15-100%) varied by target. Challenges with interpretation of results, particularly for VTEC, Shigella and Salmonella, are discussed.


A systematic review of systematic reviews of spinal manipulation.
To systematically collate and evaluate the evidence from recent systematic reviews of clinical trials of spinal manipulation. Literature searches were carried out in four electronic databases for all systematic reviews of the effectiveness of spinal manipulation in any indication, published between 2000 and May 2005. Reviews were defined as systematic if they included an explicit and repeatable inclusion and exclusion criteria for studies. Sixteen papers were included relating to the following conditions: back pain (n=3), neck pain (n=2), lower back pain and neck pain (n=1), headache (n=3), non-spinal pain (n=1), primary and secondary dysmenorrhoea (n=1), infantile colic (n=1), asthma (n=1), allergy (n=1), cervicogenic dizziness (n=1), and any medical problem (n=1). The conclusions of these reviews were largely negative, except for back pain where spinal manipulation was considered superior to sham manipulation but not better than conventional treatments. Collectively these data do not demonstrate that spinal manipulation is an effective intervention for any condition. Given the possibility of adverse effects, this review does not suggest that spinal manipulation is a recommendable treatment.


Ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for rapid analysis of trace organic contaminants in water.
The widespread utilization of organic compounds in modern society and their dispersion through wastewater have resulted in extensive contamination of source and drinking waters. The vast majority of these compounds are not regulated in wastewater outfalls or in drinking water while trace amounts of certain compounds can impact aquatic wildlife. Hence it is prudent to monitor these contaminants in water sources until sufficient toxicological data relevant to humans becomes available. A method was developed for the analysis of 36 trace organic contaminants (TOrCs) including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, steroid hormones (androgens, progestins, and glucocorticoids), personal care products and polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs) using a single solid phase extraction (SPE) technique with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The method was applied to a variety of water matrices to demonstrate method performance and reliability. UHPLC-MS/MS in both positive and negative electrospray ionization (ESI) modes was employed to achieve optimum sensitivity while reducing sample analysis time (<20 min) compared with previously published methods. The detection limits for most compounds was lower than 1.0 picogram on the column while reporting limits in water ranged from 0.1 to 15 ng/L based on the extraction of a 1 L sample and concentration to 1 mL. Recoveries in ultrapure water for most compounds were between 90-110%, while recoveries in surface water and wastewater were in the range of 39-121% and 38-141% respectively. The analytical method was successfully applied to analyze samples across several different water matrices including wastewater, groundwater, surface water and drinking water at different stages of the treatment. Among several compounds detected in wastewater, sucralose and TCPP showed the highest concentrations. The proposed method is sensitive, rapid and robust; hence it can be used to analyze a large variety of trace organic compounds in different water matrixes.


Addition of luminescence process in Monte Carlo simulation to precisely estimate the light emitted from water during proton and carbon-ion irradiation.
Although luminescence of water lower in energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold during proton and carbon-ion irradiation has been found, the phenomenon has not yet been implemented for Monte Carlo simulations. The results provided by the simulations lead to misunderstandings of the physical phenomenon in optical imaging of water during proton and carbon-ion irradiation. To solve the problems, as well as to clarify the light production of the luminescence of water, we modified a Monte Carlo simulation code to include the light production from the luminescence of water and compared them with the experimental results of luminescence imaging of water. We used GEANT4 for the simulation of emitted light from water during proton and carbon-ion irradiation. We used the light production from the luminescence of water using the scintillation process in GEANT4 while those of Cerenkov light from the secondary electrons and prompt gamma photons in water were also included in the simulation. The modified simulation results showed similar depth profiles to those of the measured data for both proton and carbon-ion. When the light production of 0.1 photons/MeV was used for the luminescence of water in the simulation, the simulated depth profiles showed the best match to those of the measured results for both the proton and carbon-ion compared with those used for smaller and larger numbers of photons/MeV. We could successively obtain the simulated depth profiles that were basically the same as the experimental data by using GEANT4 when we assumed the light production by the luminescence of water. Our results confirmed that the inclusion of the luminescence of water in Monte Carlo simulation is indispensable to calculate the precise light distribution in water during irradiation of proton and carbon-ion.


The photoprotective effect of ascorbic acid, acetylsalicylic acid, and indomethacin evaluated by the photo hen's egg test.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the supposed photoprotective effects of ascorbic acid, acetylsalicylic acid, and indomethacin by the photo hen's egg test, a recently developed new model for phototoxicity. Therefore, in three independent experimental settings the blood vessel system of the embryo's yolk sac of 24 incubated hens' eggs (2 test groups) were exposed to 60 mJ/cm2 ultraviolet B (UVB) to induce severe phototoxic damage. Before UVB irradiation, one of these test groups was exposed additionally to one of the test substances and the other one to 0.9% sodium solution alone. To exclude plain toxic reactions, two additional test groups were exposed only to 0.9% sodium chloride solution or to one of the test substances alone. Over a test observation period of 24 h, the embryo lethality as well as the morphological changes of the yolk sac blood vessel system were observed. Ascorbic acid led to a significant and remarkable reduction of the UVB-induced damage. Acetylsalicylic acid also showed a significant but lower photoprotective capacity. In contrast, indomethacin showed no photoprotective effects in the photo hen's egg test.


A prospective longitudinal analysis of the predictors of amenorrhea after breast cancer chemotherapy: Impact of BRCA pathogenic variants.
Better tools for post-chemotherapy amenorrhea risk assessment are needed for fertility preservation decision-making. Our aim was to determine the predictors of amenorrhea risk at 12 and 18 months post-chemotherapy in women with breast cancer. 142 women with breast cancer were longitudinally followed for their menstrual changes at 6, 12, and 18 months after the completion of adjuvant chemotherapy with an Anthracycline-Cyclophosphamide-based (AC-based) or Cyclophosphamide-Methotrexate +5-Fluorouracil regimen. Pre- and/or post-chemo AMH levels, age, BMI, tamoxifen use, regimen type, and germline BRCA pathogenic variant (gBRCApv) status were evaluated for the prediction of amenorrhea at 6-18 months. In multivariable-adjusted logistic regression, age (p = 0.03) and AMH (p = 0.03) at 12 months, and gBRCApv status (p = 0.03) at 18 months were significant predictors of amenorrhea (areas under the ROC curve of 0.77 and 0.76, for 12 and 18 months, respectively) among 102 evaluable subjects. An undetectable AMH immediately post-chemotherapy was predictive of amenorrhea with <18 month follow-up. In longitudinal analysis estimating time trends, baseline AMH and gBRCApv status was associated with the risk of amenorrhea over 6-18 months; the AMH >2.0 ng/mL group showed attenuated time-trend risk of amenorrhea versus AMH ≤2.0 group (ratio of ORs = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.86-0.97, p = 0.002), while the gBRCApv + showed a steeper time trend, versus the controls (ratio of ORs = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.04-1.20, p = 0.003). In addition to the pre- and post-treatment AMH levels, gBRCApv status is a novel potential predictor of amenorrhea at 12 and 18 months after chemotherapy. The higher likelihood of amenorrhea in women gBRCApv suggests that they are more prone to losing their fertility post-chemotherapy.


[Anaemia induced by vitamin B12 or folate deficiency: diagnostic value of the "dU suppression" test (author's transl)].
The "dU suppression" test, studying thymine-DNA synthesis from deoxyuridine is abnormal in folate and vitamin B12 deficiency, these two vitamins being involved in this reaction. We have done it in 7 cases of anaemia by folate deficiency, 12 cases of anaemia by vitamin B12 deficiency, in 3 cases of combined deficiency, in 3 cases of acute myeloïd leukaemia, 2 cases of sideroblastic anaemia and 2 cases of intoxication by antifolate. This test is very sensitive: it is abnormal even when there is an anaemia related to a vitamin deficiency with only very light morphologic abnormalities and can discriminate the cases, mainly in myelodysplastic syndromes, where folate deficiency is only an epiphenomen in the genesis of anaemia. The abnormalities of the "dU suppression" are quite corrected by added folate derivatives in folate deficiency. However, cobalamin derivatives did not correct completely the test in vitamin B12 deficiency except when a folate compound is also added. The "dU suppression" test becomes normal about one week after starting vitaminotherapy in vitamin B12 deficiency.


A role of small heat shock protein B8 (HspB8) in the autophagic removal of misfolded proteins responsible for neurodegenerative diseases.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive loss of upper and lower motor neurons. As with other age-dependent neurodegenerative disorders, ALS is linked to the presence of misfolded proteins that may perturb several intracellular mechanisms and trigger neurotoxicity. Misfolded proteins aggregate intracellularly generating insoluble inclusions that are a key neuropathological hallmark of ALS. Proteins involved in the intracellular degradative systems, signaling pathways and the human TAR DNA-binding protein TDP-43 are major components of these inclusions. While their role and cytotoxicity are still largely debated, aggregates represent a powerful marker to follow protein misfolding in the neurodegenerative processes. Using in vitro and in vivo models of mutant SOD1 associated familial ALS (fALS), we and other groups demonstrated that protein misfolding perturbs one of the major intracellular degradative pathways, the ubiquitin proteasome system, giving rise to a vicious cycle that leads to the further deposit of insoluble proteins and finally to the formation of inclusions. The aberrant response to mutated SOD1 thus leads to the activation of the cascade of events ultimately responsible for cell death. Hence, our idea is that, by assisting protein folding, we might reduce protein aggregation, restore a fully functional proteasome activity and/or other cascades of events triggered by the mutant proteins responsible for motor neuron death in ALS. This could be obtained by stimulating mutant protein turnover, using an alternative degradative pathway that could clear mutant SOD1, namely autophagy.


Advanced ovarian carcinoma: usefulness of [(18)F]FDG-PET in combination with CT for lesion detection after primary treatment.
To determine the additional value of [(18)F]FDG-PET in combination with computed tomography (CT) over CT used alone, for evaluating ovarian cancer patients after primary treatment. Twenty-five women (mean age: 53.6 years) had primary debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy for histologically proven ovarian carcinoma. At initial diagnosis, the tumor types were papillary serous adenocarcinoma (n=20), endometroid carcinoma (n=3), mixed mullerian tumor (n=1), and granulosa cell tumor (n=1). All patients underwent [(18)F]FDG-PET and contrast enhanced CT examinations, within 30 days of the completion of chemotherapic treatment. [(18)F]FDG-PET images were interpreted with the knowledge of CT findings (PET+CT); conversely, CT images were evaluated with no knowledge of the [(18)F]FDG-PET results. Within 7 day of imaging studies, 2(nd)-look laparoscopy (n=7) or laparotomy (n=18) was performed for histological confirmation. In all cases, imaging findings were then correlated with results of histopathologic examination. Of the 23 neoplastic viable lesions, all histologically confirmed, 16 could be detected by CT alone and 19 by PET+CT. An inflammatory lymph-node was misdiagnosed as viable tumor with both PET+CT and CT alone; an area of scar tissue in the presacral region was also misinterpreted as malignant tissue with CT alone. Overall lesion-based sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in assessing focal areas of residual tumor were as follows: 69.56%, 83.33%, 74.28% for CT, and 82.60%, 91.67%, 85.71% for PET+CT. The negative predictive value of PET+CT was markedly higher (73.33%), compared to that of CT alone (58.82%). PET used in combination with CT allows to accurately assess tumor response. A major advantage of PET+CT over CT alone is in excluding the presence of residual viable lesions after treatment.


Comprehensive mapping of national school food policies across the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland.
Childhood obesity is a major public health challenge in Europe. Schools are seen as an important setting to promote healthy diet and lifestyle in a protected environment and school food-related practices are essential in this regard. To understand what policy frameworks European countries have created to govern these practices, a systematic assessment of national school food policies across the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland (n = 30 countries) was carried out. The survey revealed that all 30 countries currently have a school food policy in place; a total of 34 relevant policies were identified, 18 of which were mandatory and the remaining 16 voluntary. Major policy objectives specified were those to improve child nutrition (97% of policies), to help children learn and adopt healthy diet and lifestyle habits (94%) and to reduce or prevent childhood obesity (88%). Most commonly (>90%), the policies offered food-based standards for menu composition, and portion sizes were guided by age-appropriate energy requirements. Lunch and snacks were the most widely addressed mealtimes for almost 90% of all policies examined. Other important areas covered included food marketing to children; the availability of vending services; training requirements for catering staff; and whether nutrition education is a mandatory part of the national curriculum. Evaluation was mentioned in 59% of the school food policies reviewed. Future analyses should focus on evaluating the implementation of these policies and more importantly, their effectiveness in meeting the objectives defined therein. Comparable and up-to-date information along with data on education, attainment and public health indicators will enable a comprehensive impact assessment of school food policies and help facilitate optimal school food provision for all.


Exploiting Honokiol-induced ER stress CHOP activation inhibits the growth and metastasis of melanoma by suppressing the MITF and β-catenin pathways.
There is increasing global incidence of highly metastatic melanoma and therapeutic strategies like those focusing on the downstream beta-catenin/MITF axis of invading melanoma cells are urgently needed. Targeting endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress can promote cancer cell death and inhibit epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in metastatic tumors. This study aimed to determine if Honokiol could promote ER stress-dependent apoptosis and regulate metastatic melanoma. The therapeutic efficacy of Honokiol was assessed using the highly metastatic melanoma xenograft mouse model for peritoneal metastasis and evaluated by computed tomography imaging. The ER stress marker, Calpain-10, delineated a novel proteolytic cleavage enzyme, while CHOP/GADD153-regulated apoptosis was used for gene silencing to determine the role of the β-catenin/MITF axis in melanoma cells. The results showed that Honokiol effectively decreased peritoneal dissemination and organ metastasis via ER stress activation and EMT marker inhibition. Knockdown Calpain-10 or CHOP/GADD153 blocked all of the biological effects in Honokiol-induced β-catenin/MITF cleavage, ERSE or TCF/LEF luciferase activity, and β-catenin kinase activity. These findings suggest that Honokiol can significantly thwart the progression of highly metastatic melanoma using the β-catenin/MITF axis via prompt Calpain-10 and CHOP/GADD153 regulated cascades.


[Clinical aspects and surgery of fibrocholangiocytosis in children].
Fifty one children with a diagnosis of fibrocholangiocystosis (FCC) were examined. A degree of circulatory blockade in the portal vein system in FCC was established to be one of the factors conditioning a severity of the course of the disease and its prognosis. With increase in duration of the disease and age of a child, the cirrhotic process in the liver and its complications are aggravating. The esophagogastric bleeding with the incidence as well depending on duration of the disease is the most severe and life-threatening complication. Our experience with operative treatment of FCC is indicative of the necessity to perform early interventions, and of a high effectiveness of creating the vascular anastomosis with preservation of the spleen.


Pebax® 1041 supported membranes with carbon nanotubes prepared via phase inversion for CO2/N2 separation.
This work shows the preparation of Pebax® 1041 films from solutions in DMAc and water-DMAc emulsions as alternatives to those prepared by extrusion that can be found in the literature. These membranes were tested in post-combustion CO2 capture, in the separation of a 15/85 (v/v) CO2/N2 mixture. Self-supported membranes of Pebax® 1041 were prepared by solvent evaporation and phase inversion. The characterization of these films defined the intrinsic properties of this polymer in terms of chemical structure, crystallinity, thermal stability and gas separation performance (a CO2 permeability of 30 Barrer with a CO2/N2 selectivity of 21 at 35 °C and 3 bar feed pressure). Supported Pebax® 1041 membranes were also developed to decrease the Pebax® thickness (in the 1.5-10 μm range), resulting in a higher permeance. These membranes were prepared by a phase inversion process consisting of the precipitation of a Pebax® 1041/DMAc solution in water and dispersing it to form a stable emulsion that was drop-cast on PSF asymmetric supports. Once dried, the polymer formed a dense continuous layer. The phase inversion methodology is "greener" than solvent evaporation since dimethylacetamide is not released as toxic vapour during membrane preparation. The amount drop-cast led to a different selective layer thickness, which was enhanced by the dispersion of MWCNTs in the polymer emulsion. The properties of the Pebax® selective layer were studied by thermogravimetry and by measuring the contact angle of the membrane surface, and the optimal CO2/N2 selectivity (22.6) was obtained with a CO2 permeance of 3.0 GPU.


Phonetic recalibration of speech by text.
Listeners adjust their phonetic categories to cope with variations in the speech signal (phonetic recalibration). Previous studies have shown that lipread speech (and word knowledge) can adjust the perception of ambiguous speech and can induce phonetic adjustments (Bertelson, Vroomen, & de Gelder in Psychological Science, 14(6), 592-597, 2003; Norris, McQueen, & Cutler in Cognitive Psychology, 47(2), 204-238, 2003). We examined whether orthographic information (text) also can induce phonetic recalibration. Experiment 1 showed that after exposure to ambiguous speech sounds halfway between /b/ and /d/ that were combined with text (b or d) participants were more likely to categorize auditory-only test sounds in accordance with the exposed letters. Experiment 2 replicated this effect with a very short exposure phase. These results show that listeners adjust their phonetic boundaries in accordance with disambiguating orthographic information and that these adjustments show a rapid build-up.


Accuracy of a Modified qSOFA Score for Predicting Critical Care Admission in Febrile Children.
The identification of life-threatening infection in febrile children presenting to the emergency department (ED) remains difficult. The quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) was only derived for adult populations, implying an urgent need for pediatric scores. We developed and validated a novel, adapted qSOFA score (Liverpool quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [LqSOFA]) and compared its performance with qSOFA, Pediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS), and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) high-risk criteria in predicting critical care (CC) admission in febrile children presenting to the ED. The LqSOFA (range, 0-4) incorporates age-adjusted heart rate, respiratory rate, capillary refill, and consciousness level on the Alert, Voice, Pain, Unresponsive scale. The primary outcome was CC admission within 48 hours of ED presentation, and the secondary outcome was sepsis-related mortality. LqSOFA, qSOFA, PEWS, and NICE high-risk criteria scores were calculated, and performance characteristics, including area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, were calculated for each score. In the initial (n = 1121) cohort, 47 CC admissions (4.2%) occurred, and in the validation (n = 12 241) cohort, 135 CC admissions (1.1%) occurred, and there were 5 sepsis-related deaths. In the validation cohort, LqSOFA predicted CC admission with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.81 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76 to 0.86), versus qSOFA (0.66; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.71), PEWS (0.93; 95% CI, 0.90 to 0.95), and NICE high-risk criteria (0.81; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.85). For predicting CC admission, the LqSOFA outperformed the qSOFA, with a net reclassification index of 10.4% (95% CI, 1.0% to 19.9%). In this large study, we demonstrate improved performance of the LqSOFA over qSOFA in identifying febrile children at risk for CC admission and sepsis-related mortality. Further validation is required in other settings.


Parent's Perspective towards Child COVID-19 Vaccination: An Online Cross-Sectional Study in Mexico.
COVID-19 vaccination programs continue in child populations. Thus, parents' attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination of their children is crucial for these strategies to succeed. The present study derives from the application of an online COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance & Hesitancy Questionnaire (COV-AHQ) in which we measure parent's hesitancy towards children's vaccination (section 4 of the COV-AHQ) and other significant factors. A logistic regression analysis with backward stepwise method was used to quantify the associations between factors and parent's hesitancy. According to the correlation analysis, the most representative factors predicting vaccine hesitancy/acceptance were positive attitude towards vaccination, parents believing that the COVID-19 vaccine will enhance the economic situation of the country, parents actively researching information, having the willingness to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine themselves, and the possibility of their children developing adverse effects. Our findings also showed that parents are highly interested in having their children vaccinated. Nonetheless, parents expressed high levels of concern involving their children in developing adverse effects from the vaccine. In addition, obtaining influenza immunization prompted interest in obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine, and younger-aged parents are much more concerned with having their children vaccinated. Therefore, in order to ensure successful vaccination programs, policymakers and health authorities should design strategies to gain confidence and provide security amongst the population, including giving continuous information about the benefits of vaccination and presenting the frequency of side effects to bring parents on board with vaccinating their children.


Differential roles of ventral pallidum subregions during cocaine self-administration behaviors.
The ventral pallidum (VP) is necessary for drug-seeking behavior. VP contains ventromedial (VPvm) and dorsolateral (VPdl) subregions, which receive projections from the nucleus accumbens shell and core, respectively. To date no study has investigated the behavioral functions of the VPdl and VPvm subregions. To address this issue, we investigated whether changes in firing rate (FR) differed between VP subregions during four events: approaching toward, responding on, or retreating away from a cocaine-reinforced operandum and a cocaine-associated cue. Baseline FR and waveform characteristics did not differ between subregions. VPdl neurons exhibited a greater change in FR compared with VPvm neurons during approaches toward, as well as responses on, the cocaine-reinforced operandum. VPdl neurons were more likely to exhibit a similar change in FR (direction and magnitude) during approach and response than VPvm neurons. In contrast, VPvm firing patterns were heterogeneous, changing FRs during approach or response alone, or both. VP neurons did not discriminate cued behaviors from uncued behaviors. No differences were found between subregions during the retreat, and no VP neurons exhibited patterned changes in FR in response to the cocaine-associated cue. The stronger, sustained FR changes of VPdl neurons during approach and response may implicate VPdl in the processing of drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior via projections to subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigra pars reticulata. In contrast, the heterogeneous firing patterns of VPvm neurons may implicate VPvm in facilitating mesocortical structures with information related to the sequence of behaviors predicting cocaine self-infusions via projections to mediodorsal thalamus and ventral tegmental area.


Enzyme-linked carbon nanotubes as biocatalytic tools to degrade and mitigate environmental pollutants.
A wide array of organic compounds have been recognized as pollutants of high concern due to their controlled or uncontrolled presence in environmental matrices. The persistent prevalence of diverse organic pollutants, including pharmaceutical compounds, phenolic compounds, synthetic dyes, and other hazardous substances, necessitates robust measures for their practical and sustainable removal from water bodies. Several bioremediation and biodegradation methods have been invented and deployed, with a wide range of materials well-suited for diverse environments. Enzyme-linked carbon-based materials have been considered efficient biocatalytic platforms for the remediation of complex organic pollutants, mostly showing over 80% removal efficiency of micropollutants. The advantages of enzyme-linked carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in enzyme immobilization and improved catalytic potential may thus be advantageous for environmental research considering the current need for pollutant removal. This review outlines the perspective of current remediation approaches and highlights the advantageous features of enzyme-linked CNTs in the removal of pollutants, emphasizing their reusability and stability aspects. Furthermore, different applications of enzyme-linked CNTs in environmental research with concluding remarks and future outlooks have been highlighted. Enzyme-linked CNTs serve as a robust biocatalytic platform for the sustainability agenda with the aim of keeping the environment clean and safe from a variety of organic pollutants.


Increased cell surface expression of histocompatibility class II I-A(d) in c-fos transfected clones of the P388D1 murine macrophage cell line.
Numerous biological functions of the monocyte-macrophage lineage are affected by the presence of immunomodulators. Enhancement in transcription of c-fos has been shown in the murine P388D1 macrophage line treated by LPS, TPA, Ca++ ionophore or dibutyryl cAMP. In order to study the effects of an increased c-Fos protein level on macrophage functions, we previously have established stable c-fos-overexpressing clones in the P388D1 cell line. Here we report that the expression of class II MHC antigens (I-A(d) antigen) is increased in these clones, particularly after IFN-gamma treatment. No variation in the cell surface expression of IFN-gamma receptor was observed. The increase of I-A(d) cell surface expression was well correlated with the level of I-A(d) mRNA. No inducible NO synthase activity and no increase of TNF-alpha release were observed in c-fos transfected cells. A slight increase of the basal expression of the main class II MHC transcription factor CIITA which is further amplified by IFN-gamma treatment, was observed in the c-Fos overexpressing clones. This suggests that the increased I-A(d) expression in clones could result from a transactivating action of the c-Fos protein on the CIITA factor.