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pubmed_837_8668 | The effects of synthetic atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) on the state of protein phosphorylation in plasma membranes of bovine adrenal cortex have been studied in vitro. ANF (1x10(-8)M - 1x10(-7)M) specifically inhibited the phosphorylation of two distinct proteins of 78 kDa and 240 kDa. Immunoblotting with specific antiserum to protein kinase C produced evidence that 78 kDa protein is most likely the protein kinase C whose phosphorylation is inhibited by both ANF and cGMP. However, cGMP did not affect the phosphorylation of 240 kDa protein, indicating a new cGMP-independent mechanism of ANF action in the adrenal, which is compatible with the lack of action of cGMP and its analogs in ANF-induced inhibition of aldosterone secretion from adrenal cortex. The inhibition of phosphorylation of putative protein kinase C by ANF or cGMP indicates a hitherto unknown signal transduction mechanism of ANF. | 10.1016/0006-291x(87)90917-x |
pubmed_718_17837 | By means of immunoaffinity chromatography and expression of the gene in Escherichia coli, non-structural glycoprotein NS1 of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and its recombinant analog were prepared. Antisera against these proteins were obtained by hyperimmunisation of rabbits. The antisera were tested by means of complement fixation, agar diffusion, hemagglutination inhibition and virus neutralization. Although both antisera are reacted with natural antigen, the recombinant analog of NS1 did not bind antibodies against natural protein in complement fixation and immunoprecipitation. Nevertheless the NS1 analog was rather active in ELISA. Neither the natural nor the recombinant protein protected experimental animals from lethal virus infection. A contamination of natural NS1 antigen with small amounts of structural glycoprotein E may be responsible for both antibody formation and virus neutralization. This can be relevant for the design of a subunit vaccine. | 10.1016/0165-2478(93)90002-j |
others_304_12687 | Resource use in adult Dacinae (Diptera: Tephritidae) is believed to be restricted to the host plant (i.e. the plant that provides fruit for oviposition and larval development). However, studies on Bactrocera cacuminata did not support this hypothesis. Thus, it was hypothesized that adult flies partition their diurnal activities between spatially separated resources (host plant, sugar, protein and methyl eugenol) as a function of the physiological status of the fly (immature, mature-unmated, mature-mated). In accordance with a priori predictions, the results of a field-cage study show that there are significant diurnal patterns in abundance and behaviour, and that flies of different physiological status use resources differently. Immature flies spend most of their time foraging for sugar and protein to facilitate development. Sexually mature flies forage for sugars during the day, and at dusk, responded strongly to methyl eugenol and mate. The fact that polygynous males wait at methyl eugenol at dusk whereas the mated, monandrous females spend their time ovipositing in fruit and are nonresponsive to methyl eugenol, supports Metcalf's hypothesis that such phenylpropanoids serve as mate rendezvous cues | 10.1046/j.1365-3032.2003.00328.x |
pubmed_56_23113 | In this paper we analyse a previously proposed cell-based model of glioblastoma (brain tumour) growth, which is based on the assumption that the cancer cells switch phenotypes between a proliferative and motile state (Gerlee and Nelander, 2012). The dynamics of this model can be described by a system of partial differential equations, which exhibits travelling wave solutions whose wave speed depends crucially on the rates of phenotypic switching. We show that under certain conditions on the model parameters, a closed form expression of the wave speed can be obtained, and using singular perturbation methods we also derive an approximate expression of the wave front shape. These new analytical results agree with simulations of the cell-based model, and importantly show that the inverse relationship between wave front steepness and speed observed for the Fisher equation no longer holds when phenotypic switching is considered. | pubmed_56_23113 |
pubmed_9_18962 | K-Cl cotransport in LK sheep erythrocytes is activated by osmotic swelling and inhibited by shrinkage. The mechanism by which changes in cell volume are transduced into changes in transport was investigated by measuring time courses of changes in transport after osmotic challenges in cells with normal and reduced Mg concentrations. When cells of normal volume and normal Mg are swollen, there is a delay of 10 min or more before the final steady-state flux is achieved, as there is for swelling activation of K-Cl cotransport in erythrocytes of other species. The delay was shown to be independent of the extent of swelling. There was also a delay after shrinkage inactivation of cotransport. Reducing cellular Mg concentration activates cotransport. Swelling of low-Mg cells activates cotransport further, but with no measurable delay. In contrast, there is a delay in shrinkage inactivation of cotransport in low-Mg cells. The results are interpreted in terms of a three-state model: [formula see text] in which A state, B state, and C state transporters have relatively slow, intermediate, and fast transport rates, respectively. Most transporters in shrunken cells with normal Mg are in the A state. Swelling converts transporters to the B state in the rate-limiting process, followed by rapid conversion to the C state. Reducing cell Mg also promotes the A-->B conversion. Swelling of low-Mg cells activates transport rapidly because of the initial predominance of B state transporters. The results support the following conclusions about the rate constants of the three-state model: k21 is the rate constant for a Mg-promoted process that is inhibited by swelling; k12 is not volume sensitive. Both k23 and k32 are increased by swelling and reduced by shrinkage; they are rate constants for a single process, whereas k12 and k21 are rate constants for separate processes. Finally, the A-->B conversion entails an increase in Jmax of the transporters, and the B-->C conversion entails an increase in the affinity of the transporters for K. | 10.1085/jgp.101.5.733 |
pubmed_1000_8076 | Four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-degrading bacteria, namely Arthrobacter sulphureus RKJ4, Acidovorax delafieldii P4-1, Brevibacterium sp. HL4 and Pseudomonas sp. DLC-P11, capable of utilizing phenanthrene as the sole source of carbon and energy, were tested for its degradation using radiolabelled phenanthrene. [9-14C]Phenanthrene was incubated with microorganisms containing 100 mg/l unlabelled phenanthrene and the evolution of 14CO2 was monitored: within 18 h of incubation, 30.1, 35.6, 26.5 and 2.1% of the recovered radiolabelled carbon was degraded to 14CO2 by RKJ4, P4-1, HL4 and DLC-P11, respectively. When mixtures of other PAHs such as fluorene, fluoranthene and pyrene, in addition to phenanthrene, were added as additional carbon sources, there was a 36.1 and 20.6% increase in 14CO2 production from [9-14C]phenanthrene in the cases of RKJ4 and HL4, respectively, whereas P4-1 and DLC-P11 did not show any enhancement in 14CO2 production. Although, a combination of many bacteria enhances the degradation of organic compounds, no enhancement in the degradation of [9-14C]phenanthrene was observed in mixed culture involving all four microorganisms together. However, when different PAHs, as indicated above, were used in mixed culture, there was a 68.2% increase in 14CO2 production. In another experiment, the overall growth rate of P4-1 on phenanthrene could be enhanced by adding the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-100, whereas RKJ4, HL4 and DLC-P11 did not show any enhancement in growth. Pathways for phenanthrene degradation were also analysed by thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Common intermediates such as o-phthalic acid and protocatechuic acid were detected in the case of RKJ4 and o-phthalic acid was detected in the case of P4-1. A new intermediate, 1-naphthol, was detected in the cases of HL4 and DLC-P11. HL4 degrades phenanthrene via 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, 1-naphthol and salicylic acid, whereas DLC-P11 degrades phenanthrene via the formation of 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, 1-naphthol and o-phthalic acid. Both transformation sequences are novel and have not been previously reported in the literature. Mega plasmids were found to be present in RKJ4, HL4 and DLC-P11, but their involvement in phenanthrene degradation could not be established. | 10.1007/s002530051621 |
pubmed_377_4402 | BACKGROUND
Little is known about the long-term impact of pregnancy-related deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the lower limbs.
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the long-term consequences of pregnancy-related DVT by assessment of self-reported, disease-specific quality of life (QOL) and symptom severity using the Venous Insufficiency Epidemiological and Economic Study (VEINES)-QOL/Sym questionnaire, and to investigate the influence of socioeconomic factors and comorbidity.
PATIENTS/METHODS
In this cross-sectional case-control study, 313 women with validated pregnancy-related DVT and 353 controls completed a comprehensive questionnaire, including the disease-specific VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire. After exclusion of DVT outside the lower limbs and missing scores, the study population comprised 208 patients and 347 controls. A VEINES-QOL/Sym score < the 25th percentile was defined as a clinically relevant reduced outcome compared with scores ≥ the 50th percentile. Predictors for low scores were identified in multivariate logistic regression models.
RESULTS
Cases reported lower mean VEINES-QOL/Sym scores than controls, 45.6/45.4 vs. 52.8/52.7, respectively (P < 0.001), and QOL among cases was still reduced compared with controls when adjusted for possible confounders. Low education was an independent predictor for both low VEINES-QOL and VEINES-Sym scores, and in addition being married/cohabitating predicted low VEINES-Sym scores.
CONCLUSIONS
Long-term QOL and symptom scores as assessed with the VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire were lower in women with previous pregnancy-related DVT than in controls, and also when adjusted for possible confounders. By logistic regression, low education was an independent predictor for low scores. This supports the use of the VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire in studies on pregnancy-related DVT. | 10.1111/j.1538-7836.2011.04468.x |
pubmed_540_8291 | Background
Musculoskeletal conditions are the leading contributor to global healthcare expenditure and with an increase in ageing global population, this number is projected to rise further.
Objectives
To determine the top 100 most-cited studies in field of musculoskeletal rehabilitation and to conduct their bibliometric analysis.
Design
Scopus was used for identification of studies, published in the field of musculoskeletal rehabilitation over last five decades.
Methods
Literature search was conducted in February 2021 with final Boolean search phrases being: [(musculoskeletal) and (rehabilitation) and (musculoskeletal rehabilitation)]. In addition to number of citations, data was also collected for other variables such as title of study, topic of discussion, subdivisions of clinical and applied science involved in conduction of study, study design, journal and its impact factor, year of publication, and country where study was conducted.
Results
The top 100 most-cited articles in musculoskeletal rehabilitation over the last 50 years were published between 1973 and 2015. Total number of citations was 24,366, with an average of 243.66 citations per paper. Highest citation was reported by a paper on treatment of low back pain by Waddell G. The decade of 2000-2009 contributed maximum articles with highest number of publications from journal "Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation". Most of the publications were from United States and most common topic to feature among these articles was "Strength training".
Conclusions
This study identifies the top 100 most-cited articles in musculoskeletal rehabilitation and provides insight into its historical trends while serving as a guide for future research. | 10.1007/s43465-022-00672-x |
pubmed_319_22104 | The endocrine disruptor vinclozolin has previously been shown to promote epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease in the rat. The current study was designed to investigate the transgenerational actions of vinclozolin on the mouse. Transient exposure of the F0 generation gestating female during gonadal sex determination promoted transgenerational adult onset disease in F3 generation male and female mice, including spermatogenic cell defects, testicular abnormalities, prostate abnormalities, kidney abnormalities and polycystic ovarian disease. Pathology analysis demonstrated 75% of the vinclozolin lineage animals developed disease with 34% having two or more different disease states. Interestingly, the vinclozolin induced transgenerational disease was observed in the outbred CD-1 strain, but not the inbred 129 mouse strain. Analysis of the F3 generation sperm epigenome identified differential DNA methylation regions that can potentially be utilized as epigenetic biomarkers for transgenerational exposure and disease. | pubmed_319_22104 |
pubmed_914_24151 | Urban quality of life (QoL) is becoming a subject of urban research mainly for western and Asian countries. Such attention is due to an increasing awareness of the contribution of QoL studies in identifying intervention areas and in monitoring urban planning policies. However, most studies are carried out at city or country level that can average out details at small scales. In this paper we present a case study where the urban QoL at small scale is measured and its variability is evaluated for Kirkos sub-city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The study is based on data from a household survey and some secondary data. Geographic information system (GIS) is applied to extract proximity information (e.g., distance to school facilities) and visualize the spatial distribution of QoL. Statistical methods such as factor analysis are applied to establish an index of objective QoL while coefficient of variation is applied to evaluate spatial variability of subjective QoL. The results of this study reveal that the subjective quality of life (QoL) scores show large variation in the sub-city. The mean QoL score also indicates that the respondents in the sub-city, on average, are dissatisfied with the quality of their life. Respondents with higher education level and income are on average, however, more satisfied with their QoL in the sub-city. The results reveal that the lower the QoL in the Kebele, the larger the variability of QoL within the Kebele. Such indicates how aggregation at large scale can average out the variation of QoL at small scales. The results reveal the presence of QoL variability at small scales. The comparison between the subjective and the objective QoL at Kebele level indicated a state of dissonance, adaptation, deprivation or well-being. Such results suggest that the two measures do not always indicate the same level of QoL. | 10.1007/s11205-009-9518-6 |
pubmed_116_3953 | BACKGROUND
The purpose of the study was to determine whether extended radical esophagectomy is both clinically and oncologically indicated for patients with superficially invasive esophageal carcinomas.
METHODS
We reviewed 51 patients with this disease in whom extended radical esophagectomy was performed.
RESULTS
Major morbidity developed in 80% of the patients associated with no mortality after the operation. At surgery lymph node metastases were found in 29 patients (57%). Although the number of positive nodes was 3 or less in 93% of those patients, the tumors metastasized not only to the mediastinal nodes but also to the cervical and abdominal nodes, frequently jumping the first echelon of nodes. The overall 5-year survival rate was 68%. The survival curve of the patients with positive nodes was significantly worse (P < .01) than that of patients with negative nodes: the respective 5-year survival rates were 47% and 93%. However, no significant difference was detected between the survival curves of the patients with cervical metastases and those with noncervical metastases.
CONCLUSIONS
Extended radical esophagectomy is needed for complete tumor clearance and may be effective in improving the rate of cure in patients with superficially invasive esophageal carcinoma. However, patients should be selected carefully for the performance of extended radical esophagectomy because this procedure is potentially associated with high morbidity rates. | pubmed_116_3953 |
pubmed_283_17066 | ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE
The decoction of the flowers of Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medic is traditionally used for the treatment of jaundice and various types of chronic and acute hepatitis in Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces of China. Phytochemical studies have indicated that total flavonoids extracted from flowers of Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medic (TFA) were the major constituents of the flowers. The present study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of the plant extracts against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced hepatocyte damage in vitro and liver injury in vivo.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
In the in vitro studies, freshly isolated rat hepatocytes were exposed to CCl4 (1%) along with/without various concentrations of TFA (4.5-72mg/L). Cell damage was assessed by the trypan blue exclusion method and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the medium were analyzed. In the in vivo studies, the hepatoprotective activity of TFA (125, 250 and 500mg/kg) were investigated on CCl4-induced liver damages in mice. The levels of ALT, AST and ALP, gamma glutamyltransferase (γ-GT), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and nitric oxide (NO) were determined in serum. Hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and glutathione transferase (GST) were measured in the liver homogenates. Cytokine transcript levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the liver tissues of mice were measured using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Livers were dissected out and evaluated for histomorphological changes.
RESULTS
A concentration-dependent increase in the percentage viability was observed when CCl4-exposed hepatocytes were treated with different concentrations of TFA. Levels of ALT, AST and ALP in the medium were significantly decreased. In the animal studies, TFA showed significant protection with the depletion of ALT, AST, ALP and γ-GT in serum as was raised by the induction of CCl4. Moreover, TFA decreased the MDA level and elevated the content of GSH in the liver as compared to those in the CCl4 group. Furthermore, activities of antioxidative enzymes, including SOD, GPx, CAT and GST, were enhanced dose dependently with TFA. Meanwhile, the inflammatory mediators (e.g., TNF-α, IL-1β and NO) were inhibited by TFA treatment both at the serum and mRNA levels. Additionally, histological analyses also showed that TFA reduced the extent of liver lesions induced by CCl4.
CONCLUSION
These results suggested that TFA protected mice against CCl4-induced liver injury through antioxidant stress and antiinflammatory effects. This finding justified the use of this plant in traditional medicine for the treatment of liver disease. | pubmed_283_17066 |
pubmed_598_1195 | BACKGROUND
Proximal humeral fracture is a common fracture. Different approaches have been utilized in the surgical intervention of three-part fractures. Our study is to evaluate the clinical outcomes and effectiveness of a modified anterolateral approach and intra-osseous portal in minimally invasive treatment for three-part proximal humeral fractures in comparison to the traditional deltopectoral approach.
METHODS
From March 2015 to September 2016, 13 patients with three-part proximal humeral fractures were treated with internal fixation through the modified anterolateral minimally invasive approach (MIPO). These cases were compared to 20 additional cases using the deltopectoral approach (DP). Clinical and radiographic evaluations were performed, including the constant score (CS) and range of motion in abduction, flexion/extension and external/internal rotation. Complications were recorded as well.
RESULTS
All patients were followed up for a mean time of 12.12 ± 4.01 months. At the latest follow-up, no significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in terms of length of stay, range of motion for abduction, flexion or internal/external rotation of the shoulder, Constant score or visual analog scors (VAS) for pain. Elbow flexion (142.31 ± 8.32 vs. 123.00 ± 10.18), posterior shoulder extension (41.92 ± 5.22 vs. 35.50 ± 5.83) and postoperative VAS (4.38 ± 1.04 vs. 6.15 ± 0.99) were significantly better in the MIPO group than in the DP group (p < 0.05). No significant differences were detected in the radiographic evaluation, and complications including axillary nerve injury were not present.
CONCLUSION
The use of the modified anterolateral approach and intra-osseous portal is safe and effective for minimally invasive reduction and plating treatment for three-part proximal humeral fractures. | 10.1186/s13018-017-0701-1 |
pubmed_597_2138 | Structural Genomics aims to elucidate protein structures to identify their functions. Unfortunately, the variation of just a few residues can be enough to alter activity or binding specificity and limit the functional resolution of annotations based on sequence and structure; in enzymes, substrates are especially difficult to predict. Here, large-scale controls and direct experiments show that the local similarity of five or six residues selected because they are evolutionarily important and on the protein surface can suffice to identify an enzyme activity and substrate. A motif of five residues predicted that a previously uncharacterized Silicibacter sp. protein was a carboxylesterase for short fatty acyl chains, similar to hormone-sensitive-lipase-like proteins that share less than 20% sequence identity. Assays and directed mutations confirmed this activity and showed that the motif was essential for catalysis and substrate specificity. We conclude that evolutionary and structural information may be combined on a Structural Genomics scale to create motifs of mixed catalytic and noncatalytic residues that identify enzyme activity and substrate specificity. | 10.1073/pnas.1305162110 |
pubmed_86_13444 | Splenic function in sickle hemoglobinopathy syndromes was assessed to determine the developmental pattern of splenic dysfunction. Nonvisualization of the spleen using technetium-99 metastable (99mTc) spleen scans correlated strongly with pocked (vesiculated) RBCs greater than or equal to 3.5%. Cross-sectional analysis of pocked RBC data from 2,086 patients showed differences in the developmental pattern of splenic dysfunction between several disorders. In hemoglobin SS disease (sickle cell anemia) and hemoglobin S beta(0) thalassemia, splenic dysfunction (greater than or equal to 3.5% pocked RBCs) often occurred in the first 6 to 12 months of life. In hemoglobin S beta(+) thalassemia, splenic dysfunction occurred less frequently and later. Splenic dysfunction in hemoglobin SC disease (sickle cell-hemoglobin C) was intermediate. The level of pocked RBCs was inversely associated with fetal hemoglobin (P less than .007) and directly associated with age (P less than or equal to .001). These patterns of splenic dysfunction reflect the known severity of hemolysis and intravascular sickling and are consistent with the epidemiology of severe bacterial meningitis and sepsis in these diseases. Serial measurement of pocked RBCs permits determination of the onset of splenic dysfunction and the time of increased susceptibility to severe bacterial infections. | pubmed_86_13444 |
pubmed_328_16671 | The South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) has in recent years become increasingly important for our understanding of the emergence of 'modern human behaviours'. Several key innovations appeared in this context for the first time, significantly pre-dating their re-invention in the European Upper Palaeolithic. One of these innovations was heat treatment of stone to improve its quality for the production of stone tools. Heat treatment may even be the oldest well-documented technique used to intentionally alter the properties of materials in general. It is commonly thought of as requiring the skilled use of fire, a high degree of planning depth and complex cognitive abilities. However, to work on these fundamental concepts we need to analyse the techniques and procedures used to heat-treat and we need to understand what they imply. In this paper, we present a direct and expedient comparison between the technical complexities of four alternative heat treatment procedures by coding the behaviours required for their set-up in so-called cognigrams, a relatively new method for understanding complexity based on the problem-solution distance. Our results show that although the techniques significantly differ in complexity, the techniques used in the MSA fall within the range of complexities known from other MSA techniques. Heat treatment in above-ground fires, as it was practised during this period in South Africa, was even one of the most complex techniques at the time of its invention. Early heat treatment can therefore be considered an important behavioural proxy that may shed light on the behaviour and socioeconomic structure of past groups. The implications of this are highlighted by the ongoing debate about 'modernity', 'behavioural flexibility' and 'complex cognition' of early anatomically modern humans in Africa. | 10.1371/journal.pone.0204705 |
pubmed_1066_15371 | A large number of lithium batteries have been retiring from the market of energy storage. Thus, recycling of the used electrode materials is becoming urgent. In this study, an industrial machinery processing was used to recover the crystal structure of the waste LiCoO2 materials with the combination of small-scale equipment repair technology. The results show that the crystal parameters of the repaired LiCoO2 material become small, the unit cell volume is reduced, and the crystal structure tends to be stable. The Co-O bond length of 1.9134 nm, O-Co-O bond angle of 94.72°, the (003) interplanar spacing of 0.467 nm indicate the excellent recovery level of the repaired LiCoO2 . In addition, the electrochemical performance of the repaired LiCoO2 material is greatly improved, compared with the waste material. The capacity of the repaired electrode material can be maintained at 120 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles at the current density of 0.2C. The promising rate performance of the repaired electrode material demonstrates the stable structure. This research work provides a large-scale method for the direct recovery of LiCoO2 with the reduction of unnecessary energy and reagent consumption, which will be beneficial to the environmental protection. | 10.1002/chem.202102015 |
pubmed_142_15905 | OBJECTIVE
In underserved communities around the world, inguinal hernias represent a significant burden of surgically-treatable disease. With traditional models of international surgical assistance limited to mission trips, a standardized framework to strengthen local healthcare systems is lacking. We established a surgical education model using web-based tools and wearable technology to allow for long-term proctoring and assessment in a resource-poor setting. This is a feasibility study examining wearable technology and web-based performance rating tools for long-term proctoring in an international setting.
METHODS
Using the Lichtenstein inguinal hernia repair as the index surgical procedure, local surgeons in Paraguay and Brazil were trained in person by visiting international expert trainers using a formal, standardized teaching protocol. Surgeries were captured in real-time using Google Glass and transmitted wirelessly to an online video stream, permitting real-time observation and proctoring by mentoring surgeon experts in remote locations around the world. A system for ongoing remote evaluation and support by experienced surgeons was established using the Lichtenstein-specific Operative Performance Rating Scale.
RESULTS
Data were collected from 4 sequential training operations for surgeons trained in both Paraguay and Brazil. With continuous internet connectivity, live streaming of the surgeries was successful. The Operative Performance Rating Scale was immediately used after each operation. Both surgeons demonstrated proficiency at the completion of the fourth case.
CONCLUSIONS
A sustainable model for surgical training and proctoring to empower local surgeons in resource-poor locations and "train trainers" is feasible with wearable technology and web-based communication. Capacity building by maximizing use of local resources and expertise offers a long-term solution to reducing the global burden of surgically-treatable disease. | pubmed_142_15905 |
pubmed_143_1876 | High throughput screening for β-lactamase inhibitors afforded biphenyl hits such as 1. Hit confirmation and X-ray soaking experiments with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa AmpC enzyme led to the identification of an aryl boronic acid-serine complex 4, which was formed from phenyl boronic acid 8 (an impurity in compound 1) and ethylene glycol (the cryoprotectant in the soaking experiment). | 10.1016/j.bmcl.2019.126795 |
pubmed_701_1320 | Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) is a potentially fatal illness caused by a particular strain of Staphylococcus aureus. The clinical presentation is similar to that of septic shock. The incidence of TSS peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s, probably as a result of availability of super absorbent tampons. Although most commonly associated with menstruation, the overall incidence of menstrual and nonmenstrual TSS in men and women ranges from 1 to 3 per 100,000. There are almost equal numbers of menstrual and nonmenstrual cases of TSS identified annually. S aureus, the causative microorganism in cases of TSS, has been isolated from many body tissues. Toxic shock syndrome presents as a flu-like illness with high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, general malaise, and muscle weakness. Nursing and medical management focus on controlling or preventing potentially serious complications, such as adult respiratory distress syndrome, renal failure, electrolyte imbalances, disseminated intravascular coagulation, encephalopathy, and cardiomyopathy. Judicious use of tampons and barrier contraceptive devices may decrease the risk of developing TSS. | 10.1111/j.1552-6909.1995.tb02394.x |
pubmed_989_14742 | Diagnosis and management of ocular tuberculosis (OTB) poses a significant challenge. Mixed ocular tissue involvement and lack of agreement on best practice diagnostic tests together with the global variations in therapeutic management contributed to the existing uncertainties regarding the outcome of the disease. The current review aims to update recent progress on OTB. In particular, the Collaborative Ocular Tuberculosis Study (COTS) group recently standardized a nomenclature system for defining clinical phenotypes, and also proposed consensus guidelines and an algorithmic approach for management of different clinical phenotypes of OTB. Recent developments in experimental research and innovations in molecular diagnostics and imaging technology have provided a new understanding in the pathogenesis and natural history of the disease. | 10.4103/ijo.IJO_1451_20 |
pubmed_944_15981 | The antiviral activities of extracts from Daucus maritimus seeds were investigated against the reverse transcriptase of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 and a panel of RNA-dependent RNA polymerases of dengue virus, West Nile virus (WNV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). The extracts showed moderate to potent inhibition rates against the four viral polymerases. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited a potent inhibitory effect against WNV's RdRp, with an IC₅₀ value of 8 µg mL⁻¹. The F₂ fraction exhibited potent inhibitory activity against WNV and HCV's RdRps, with IC₅₀ values 1 and 5 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. The P₂ fraction also showed potent inhibitory effects on WNV and HCV's RdRps, with IC₅₀ values 2.7 and 4 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. The results suggest that these extracts are candidates for the development of new anti-WNV RpDp and anti-HCV RpDp agents. | 10.1080/14786419.2010.550263 |
pubmed_942_20720 | Nitric oxide ((*)NO)-derived reactive species nitrate unsaturated fatty acids, yielding nitroalkene derivatives, including the clinically abundant nitrated oleic and linoleic acids. The olefinic nitro group renders these derivatives electrophilic at the carbon beta to the nitro group, thus competent for Michael addition reactions with cysteine and histidine. By using chromatographic and mass spectrometric approaches, we characterized this reactivity by using in vitro reaction systems, and we demonstrated that nitroalkene-protein and GSH adducts are present in vivo under basal conditions in healthy human red cells. Nitro-linoleic acid (9-, 10-, 12-, and 13-nitro-9,12-octadecadienoic acids) (m/z 324.2) and nitro-oleic acid (9- and 10-nitro-9-octadecaenoic acids) (m/z 326.2) reacted with GSH (m/z 306.1), yielding adducts with m/z of 631.3 and 633.3, respectively. At physiological concentrations, nitroalkenes inhibited glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), which contains a critical catalytic Cys (Cys-149). GAPDH inhibition displayed an IC(50) of approximately 3 microM for both nitroalkenes, an IC(50) equivalent to the potent thiol oxidant peroxynitrite (ONOO(-)) and an IC(50) 30-fold less than H(2)O(2), indicating that nitroalkenes are potent thiol-reactive species. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed covalent adducts between fatty acid nitroalkene derivatives and GAPDH, including at the catalytic Cys-149. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis of human red cells confirmed that nitroalkenes readily undergo covalent, thiol-reversible post-translational modification of nucleophilic amino acids in GSH and GAPDH in vivo. The adduction of GAPDH and GSH by nitroalkenes significantly increased the hydrophobicity of these molecules, both inducing translocation to membranes and suggesting why these abundant derivatives had not been detected previously via traditional high pressure liquid chromatography analysis. The occurrence of these electrophilic nitroalkylation reactions in vivo indicates that this reversible post-translational protein modification represents a new pathway for redox regulation of enzyme function, cell signaling, and protein trafficking. | 10.1074/jbc.M602814200 |
pubmed_241_3390 | OBJECTIVE
To investigate HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 gene polymorphism in the Miao ethnic group in Hunan, China.
METHODS
PCR-sequence specific oligonucleotide probes (SSO) reverse flow chip method was used to type HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 genes of 154 unrelated healthy Miao ethnic individuals in Hunan. The allele and haplotype frequencies were calculated and compared with other populations in China.
RESULTS
A total of 10 HLA-A, 25 HLA-B, and 13 HLA-DRB1 alleles were observed in the population. The higher frequency alleles included A 11(38.96%), A 02(27.27%), A 24(18.83%), B 40(60)(17.53%), B 46(13.96%), B 15(75)(11.69%), DRB1 09(15.26%), DRB1 12(15.26%), DRB1 15(15.26%), and DRB1 04(12.66%). The most frequent haplotypes were A11-B60(9.60%), A2-B46(9.27%), A11-B75(9.22%), B75-DR12(6.31%), A11-DR12(9.62%), A11-DR4(9.07%), A11-DR15(6.69%), A11-B75-DR12(5.43%), A11-B60-DR4(4.24%), and A2-B46-DR9(3.71%). Compared with other populations in China, HLA gene polymorphism of Hunan Miao population was close to that of southern population.
CONCLUSION
HLA loci are highly polymorphic in the Miao population of Hunan, and their distribution has the character of South China population. | 10.3969/j.issn.1672-7347.2010.04.001 |
pubmed_1051_23257 | Due to their improved accuracy, double-hybrid density functionals emerged as an important method for molecular electronic-structure calculations. The high computational costs of double-hybrid calculations in the condensed phase and the lack of efficient gradient implementations thereof inhibit a wide applicability for periodic systems. We present an implementation of forces and stress tensors for double-hybrid density functionals within the Gaussian and plane-waves electronic structure framework. The auxiliary density matrix method is used to reduce the overhead of the Hartree-Fock kernel providing an efficient and accurate methodology to tackle condensed phase systems. First applications to water systems of different densities and molecular crystals show the efficiency of the implementation and pave the way for advanced studies. Finally, we present large benchmark systems to discuss the performance of our implementation on modern large-scale computers. | 10.1063/5.0082327 |
others_314_88724 | Consciousness transiently fades away during deep sleep, more stably under anesthesia, and sometimes permanently due to brain injury. The development of an index to quantify the level of consciousness across these different states is regarded as a key problem both in basic and clinical neuroscience. We argue that this problem is ill-defined since such an index would not exhaust all the relevant information about a given state of consciousness. While the level of consciousness can be taken to describe the actual brain state, a complete characterization should also include its potential behavior against external perturbations. We developed and analyzed whole-brain computational models to show that the stability of conscious states provides information complementary to their similarity to conscious wakefulness. Our work leads to a novel methodological framework to sort out different brain states by their stability and reversibility, and illustrates its usefulness to dissociate between physiological (sleep), pathological (brain-injured patients), and pharmacologically-induced (anesthesia) loss of consciousness | 10.1101/2020.07.02.185157 |
pubmed_636_13310 | Frequency and causes of infringement of salivation in people of young, average, elderly and senile age who addressed for rendering assistance in out-patient stomatologic treatment-and-prevention establishments in connection with infringement of function of salivary glands were studied. It is established that frequency of addresses in connection with violations of functions of salivary glands increases with age. The analysis of methods of diagnostics and treatment applied to normalization of function of salivary glands shows that they remain at rather low level. | pubmed_636_13310 |
pubmed_411_10964 | Finding new biomarkers to model Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a challenge not only to help discerning between Healthy Control (HC) subjects and patients with potential PD but also as a way to measure quantitatively the loss of dopaminergic neurons mainly concentrated at substantia nigra. Within this context, this work presented here tries to provide a set of imaging features based on morphological characteristics extracted from I[Formula: see text]-Ioflupane SPECT scans to discern between HC and PD participants in a balanced set of [Formula: see text] scans from Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database. These features, obtained from isosurfaces of each scan at different intensity levels, have been classified through the use of classical Machine Learning classifiers such as Support-Vector-Machines (SVM) or Naïve Bayesian and compared with the results obtained using a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP). The proposed system, based on a Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon U-Test for feature selection and the SVM approach, yielded a [Formula: see text] balanced accuracy when the performance was evaluated using a [Formula: see text]-fold cross-validation. This proves the reliability of these biomarkers, especially those related to sphericity, center of mass, number of vertices, 2D-projected perimeter or the 2D-projected eccentricity, among others, but including both internal and external isosurfaces. | 10.1142/S0129065720500446 |
pubmed_410_26312 | Accurate prediction of human pharmacokinetics using in vitro tools is an important task during drug development. Albeit, currently used in vitro systems for clearance extrapolation such as microsomes and primary human hepatocytes in suspension culture show reproducible turnover, the utility of these systems is limited by a rapid decline of activity of drug metabolizing enzymes. In this study, a multi-well array culture of primary human hepatocyte spheroids was compared to suspension and single spheroid cultures from the same donor. Multi-well spheroids remained viable and functional over the incubation time of 3 days, showing physiological excretion of albumin and α-AGP. Their metabolic activity was similar compared to suspension and single spheroid cultures. This physiological activity, the high cell concentration, and the prolonged incubation time resulted in significant turnover of all tested low clearance compounds (n = 8). In stark contrast, only one or none of the compounds showed significant turnover when single spheroid or suspension cultures were used. Using multi-well spheroids and a regression offset approach (log(CLint) = 1.1 × + 0.85), clearance was predicted within 3-fold for 93% (13/14) of the tested compounds. Thus, multi-well spheroids represent a novel and valuable addition to the ADME in vitro tool kit for the determination of low clearance and overall clearance prediction. Graphical Abstract. | 10.1208/s12248-022-00689-y |
pubmed_316_7436 | Examples are given which demonstrate that the kappa opiate receptor can be separated from mu and delta subtypes by their physical parameters. When the subunit composition of the subtypes are compared, no definite differences are encountered. The data from the literature are also contradictory. This may in part be explained by the fact that the different receptors appear to contain a structurally common high affinity binding site. A possible hypothesis would be that the subtypes differ from each other by the number of subunits. | 10.1007/BF00979528 |
pubmed_399_15316 | Tufts of microvilli originating from the internodal cytoplasm of Schwann cells associated with myelinated axons in apparently normal lizard spinal roots have been studied under the electron microscope by means of both single and serial sections. More than one tuft of internodal microvilli may arise from a single Schwann cell. Sometimes mitochondria and more frequently an organelle resembling a multivesicular body with a clear matrix can be found in the Schwann cell cytoplasm underlying a tuft of internodal microvilli. The dimensions (length: 0.4-1.0 microns; diameter: 40-70 nm) and structure of internodal microvilli of the Schwann cell are very similar to those of nodal microvilli of the same cell. Each tuft of internodal microvilli projects towards an adjacent unmyelinated axon which at this site is partly devoid of its own Schwann cell sheath. Thus a single Schwann cell may be related to a myelinated axon and an unmyelinated axon at the same time. Patches of a dense axolemmal undercoating (which could be portions of the cytoskeleton) are present in the unmyelinated axon in close spatial correlation with internodal microvilli. The factors which could induce the formation of internodal microvilli as well as the possible role (or roles) of these microvilli are briefly discussed. | 10.1007/BF01190832 |
pubmed_167_9886 | BACKGROUND Selenium (Se) deficiency and supplementation result in multiple effects. GPx-1 (Pro198Leu) polymorphism is associated with Se deficiency. This study aimed to observe associations between Se-deficiency/supplement and GPx-1-198Leu overexpression in myocardial injuries. MATERIAL AND METHODS GPx-1P198L transgenic (Tg) mice and non-transgenic wild-type (WT) littermates were divided into Control (CON, 0.1-0.2 mg/kg), Se-deficiency (SD, <0.02 mg/kg), and Se-supplement (SS, 0.4 mg/kg) groups. Cardiac functions were observed with animal M-mode echocardiography. Se level was measured using 2,3-diamino Kenai fluorospectrophotometry. Total cardiac GPx activity was also measured. Myocardial histopathology was determined with HE and Masson's trichrome staining. Caspase-9 and caspase-3 were measured with Western blot analysis. RESULTS In WT Se-deficient mice, cardiac GPx activity was significantly decreased, and was not elevated by overexpression of GPx-1-198Leu gene. Increased GPx activity was observed in WT Se-supplemented mice and Tg Se-supplemented mice (much more). Se deficiency as well as supplementation resulted in cardiac systolic dysfunction, which was not affected by GPx-1-198Leu gene. Se deficiency led to myocardial fibrosis and pathological changes accompanied by increased activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3. Se supplementation significantly reduced pathological changes, as well as caspase-9 and caspase-3 levels in the presence of increased myocardial fibrosis. In Se-deficient mice, GPx-1-198Leu overexpression did not significantly decrease myocardial pathological injuries and fibrosis. In Se-supplemented Tg mice, myocardial fibrosis and caspase-9 level were increased, although pathological injuries and caspase-3 were similar to that in Se-supplemented WT mice. CONCLUSIONS Se deficiency as well as supplementation induced myocardial structural and functional abnormalities through activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 in GPx-1P198L overexpression transgenic mice. | 10.12659/MSM.911120 |
pubmed_714_16718 | Because the physical and mechanical properties of vital and devitalized teeth differ, a variety of complexities can occur during the reconstruction of endodontically treated teeth. The three products described are recommended to help overcome some of the shortcomings encountered in present-day rehabilitation. | pubmed_714_16718 |
pubmed_635_22388 | BACKGROUND
Tuberculosis (TB) is an important worldwide ongoing health issue. To be able to control TB, one should not only cure active TB but also identify childhood TB patients who have the possibility to develop active disease in the future. The aim of this study was to compare a century-old tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test, developed as an alternative to TST and which has been claimed to be superior to TST in several ways, in the diagnosis of childhood TB.
METHODS
Fifty-three children with TB between 5 months and 17.5 years of age and 92 healthy children from the same age group with no risk factors for TB were recruited into the study. All children underwent TST and QFT-GIT test and their demographic, clinic and laboratory data were recorded. Data were analyzed using SPSS 14.
RESULTS
A total of 53 patients were diagnosed with TB. Mean patient age was 8.5 ± 4.3 years (range, 5 months-17.5 years). A total of 41.7% of the patients were female. Sixteen of 53 patients had confirmation on culture. QFT-GIT test was positive in 16 and TST was positive in 15 among 16 children with culture-confirmed TB. The sensitivity of TST and QFT-GIT were 93.8% and 100.0%, and the specificity of TST and QFT-GIT were 100.0% and 97.8%, respectively. With regard to the 53 TB children including those without bacteriological confirmation, QFT-GIT was positive in 33 children, and TST was positive in 44 children. The sensitivity of TST and QFT-GIT was then 83.0% and 62.3%, and the specificity, 100.0% and 97.8%, respectively.
CONCLUSION
Although positive QFT-GIT test is very significant for TB, negative results will not exclude TB infection. TST and QFT-GIT used together may provide more efficient results. | 10.1111/ped.12659 |
others_201_9752 | : Medicare reimbursement is rapidly declining in many specialties. An in-depth analysis of Medicare reimbursement for routinely performed diagnostic imaging procedures in the United States is warranted. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to evaluate Medicare reimbursement trends for the 20 most common lower extremity imaging procedures performed between 2005 and 2020, including radiographs, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We hypothesized that Medicare reimbursement for imaging procedures would decline substantially over the studied period. Study Design: Cohort study. Methods: The Physician Fee Schedule Look-up Tool from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was analyzed for reimbursement rates and relative value units associated with the top 20 most utilized Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes in lower extremity imaging from 2005 to 2020. Reimbursement rates were adjusted for inflation and listed in 2020 US dollars using the US Consumer Price Index. To compare year-to-year changes, the percentage change per year and compound annual growth rate were calculated. A 2-tailed t test was used to compare the unadjusted and adjusted percentage change over the 15-year period. Results: After adjusting for inflation, mean reimbursement for all procedures decreased by 32.41% (P =.013). The mean adjusted percentage change per year was –2.82%, and the mean compound annual growth rate was –1.03%. Compensation for the professional and technical components for all CPT codes decreased by 33.02% and 85.78%, respectively. Mean compensation for the professional component decreased by 36.46% for radiography, 37.02% for CT, and 24.73% for MRI. Mean compensation for the technical component decreased by 7.76% for radiography, 127.66% for CT, and 207.88% for MRI. Mean total relative value units decreased by 38.7%. The commonly billed imaging procedure CPT 73720 (MRI lower extremity, other than joint, with and without contrast) had the greatest adjusted decrease of 69.89%. Conclusion: Medicare reimbursement for the most billed lower extremity imaging studies decreased by 32.41% between 2005 and 2020. The greatest decreases were noted in the technical component. Of the modalities, MRI had the largest decrease, followed by CT and then radiography. © The Author(s) 2023 | 10.1177/23259671221147264 |
pubmed_866_25220 | Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) and palliative sedation (PS) are both legal options in Canada that may be considered by patients experiencing intolerable and unmanageable suffering. A contentious, lively debate has been ongoing in the literature regarding the similarities and differences between MAiD and PS. The aim of this paper is to explore the propositions that MAiD and PS are essentially similar and conversely that MAiD and PS are distinctly different. The relevance of such a debate is apparent for clinicians and patients alike. Understanding the complex and multi-faceted nuances between PS and MAiD allows patients and caregivers to make more informed decisions pertaining to end-of-life care. It is hoped that this paper will also serve to foster further debate and consideration of the issues associated with PS and MAiD with a view to improve patient care and the quality of both living and dying in Canada. | 10.1111/nin.12321 |
pubmed_67_15798 | The inhibition of sustained angiogenesis is an attractive approach for the treatment of cancer, blindness and other angiogenesis-dependent diseases. Encouraged by our previous finding that toluquinol, a methyl hydroquinone isolated from a marine fungus, exhibited an interesting antiangiogenic activity, we further explored structural modifications of this natural compound in order to develop improved drug candidates. Our results indicate that although the methyl group plays a relevant role in the cytotoxic activity of toluquinol, some derivatives in which this methyl was replaced by another substituent, could keep the antiangiogenic activity, whereas exhibiting a lower cytotoxicity in vitro. This is the case of (E)- 2-(3-methoxyprop-1-en-1-yl) benzene-1,4-diol, which exhibits a decreased toxicity, whereas maintaining or even improving the antiangiogenic activity of toluquinol, as demonstrated by a number of in vitro (endothelial cells proliferation, migration and tube formation) and in vivo (chick embryo chrorioallantoic membrane vascularization and murine corneal neovascularization) experimental approaches. Our results point to a mechanism of action that could be related to an induction of apoptosis, as well as to an increase in the reactive oxygen species levels, a reduction of the redox capacity and the inhibition of the VEGFR2, Akt and ERK phosphorylation in VEGF-activated endothelial cells. The biological activity of this new angiogenesis inhibitor, along with its lower undesired toxicity, suggests that it is a promising drug candidate with improved potential for the treatment of angiogenesis-related diseases. | 10.1016/j.biopha.2022.113759 |
pubmed_302_12149 | The role of the gubernaculum during the inguino-scrotal phase of testicular descent remains controversial. Some authors propose involution and eversion while others suggest active migration, although the site of growth is unknown. We aimed to determine whether the gubernacular bulb is actively proliferating or regressing during inguino-scrotal testicular descent in the rat. Gubernacula were removed from Sprague-Dawley rats and congenitally-cryptorchid TS mutant rats. Animals (0, 3, 7, 10, and 11 days of age) were treated with bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) 2 hr before they were killed. BUdR incorporation into newly synthesized DNA served as a marker of cell division. The gubernacula were histologically processed for hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) and immunoperoxidase staining. Four different areas within the gubernaculum were examined for BUdR-positive cells: area 1: plica gubernaculi (cord); area 2: pars infravaginalis gubernaculi (bulb); area 3: distal part of the cremaster muscle; and area 4: proximal part of the cremaster muscle. The rate of cell division for each of these areas was determined by counting the number of BUdR-positive cells per 100 cells. The highest rate of BUdR labeling in both types of rats was in area 2, which is the tip of the gubernacular bulb, and this was significantly greater (P < 0.0001) than in the gubernacular cord or developing cremaster muscle. The mitotic activity was also noted to be significantly greater (P < 0.0001) at the distal end of the cremaster muscle than at the proximal end. The amount of mitosis decreased significantly (P < 0.01) in areas 2 and 4 of the gubernaculum in Sprague-Dawley rats across the period studied. This trend was not observed in TS rats. Our results suggest that the bulb actively proliferates after birth, with possible differentiation into new cremaster muscle cells. We propose that the bulb is the growing end of the elongating gubernaculum, analogous to the growth of a limb bud. | 10.1002/ar.10092 |
pubmed_974_102 | We present a real-time multimodal near-infrared imaging technology that tracks externally induced axial motion of magnetic microbeads in single cells in culture. The integrated multimodal imaging technique consists of phase-sensitive magnetomotive optical coherence microscopy (MM-OCM) and multiphoton microscopy (MPM).MPMis utilized for the visualization of multifunctional fluorescent and magnetic microbeads, while MM-OCM detects, with nanometer-scale sensitivity, periodic displacements of the microbeads induced by the modulation of an external magnetic field. Magnetomotive signals are measured from mouse macrophages, human breast primary ductal carcinoma cells, and human breast epithelial cells in culture, and validated with full-field phase-sensitive microscopy. This methodology demonstrates the capability for imaging controlled cell dynamics and has the potential for measuring cell biomechanical properties, which are important in assessing the health and pathological state of cells. | pubmed_974_102 |
pubmed_743_22965 | Skin aging is an outward manifestation of other cellular and molecular aging processes occurring elsewhere in the body. These processes are known collectively as the "hallmarks" of aging, which are a series of basic health maintenance mechanisms that fail over time. Cellular senescence is one of the most studied of the hallmarks of aging; senescent cells accumulate over time and are major drives of the aging process. Here, we discuss the impact of cellular senescence in the context of skin aging, and discuss the emerging landscape of interventions designed for their selective removal by targeted cell death (senolytics) or rejuvenation (senomorphics). We discuss the serotherapeutic strategies that are currently under investigation for systemic aging, which may bring eventual benefits for skin health. Next, we discuss a newly discovered hallmark of aging, dysregulated mRNA processing, which can be targeted for the senomorphic effect. Finally, we highlight a new modality for manipulation of disrupted mRNA processing, oligonucleotide therapeutics. The emerging field of senotherapeutics is set to revolutionize how we view and treat skin aging, and senotherapies are now poised to become a new class of skincare interventions. | 10.1097/PRS.0000000000008782 |
pubmed_978_624 | The determination of terbium (Tb) in organs by fluorometry and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) was investigated. The organs of mice were ashed before the instrumental applications. The fluorometric measurement of Tb was performed after formation of a complex with dipicolinate. The detection limit was 0.1 micrograms/mL and the coefficient of variation was less than 5% (N = 6). AAS measurement of Tb was carried out with a pyrolytic graphite furnace. The detection limit by AAS was 1 microgram/mL. The concentrations of Tb in various organs of mice intraperitoneally administered TbCl3 at doses of 10, 50, and 250 mg Tb/kg were measured by both methods. The values obtained from each organ were dependent on the dose. High concentrations of Tb were found in spleen, pancreas, and seminal vesicle; lesser amounts were found in liver and testis. The correlation coefficient for both methods was high; r = 0.991 (N = 20) in liver and r = 0.988 (N = 20) in pancreas. | 10.1093/jat/13.3.135 |
pubmed_477_6950 | Sintered 316 L stainless steel, made by slip casting, was studied in the present work for its potential use as a medical prosthesis. The physical and mechanical properties were scrutinized to determine characteristics of the specimens. Corrosion tests were conducted in boiling 5% H2SO4. Microstructures of the specimens were examined. The samples were implanted for 31 days in the dorsolateral subcutaneous site of living rats. The results were as follows. The shrinkage during heating varied from 10.3 to 33.0%, the relative density from 0.41 to 0.78, and porosity from 20.4 to 58.2%. Tensile strength varied from 2.3 to 24.6 kg/mm2, yield strength from 2.8 to 11.6 kg/mm2, elastic modulus from 1 075 to 7 400 kg/mm2, elongation from 9.1 to 19%, hardness of Brinell scale from 7.5 to 53.1. Mechanical properties as mentioned above decreased with increasing porosity. Pore size distribution varied 4.4 to 44 mu. Both Si and ferrite, or either of the two were observed in the matrix of austenite. Corrosion resistance were effected greatly by the porosity. Blood vessels, fibroblasts, fibrous tissues were found surrounding the sintered specimens and in the interior pores. No degeneration or necrosis were noted. Based on the tentative findings of the present studies, I can say that sintered stainless steel have a potential for medical application. | pubmed_477_6950 |
pubmed_255_2471 | Up to 65% of respondents' workload is ordered Stat, and lab staff view clinicians and nurses as resistant to changing that strategy. MLO's national survey examines Stat necessity and utility. | pubmed_255_2471 |
others_384_3743 | Clostridium perfringens is a pathogen of concern in pasteurised foods. The main objective of this study was to use power ultrasound to enhance the thermal inactivation of C. perfringens spores in beef slurry. The effect of simultaneous ultrasound and heat (TS, thermosonication) on the spore inactivation in beef slurry was first investigated. At 75°C, a 60min TS process (24kHz, 0.33W/g) resulted in a less than 1.5 log reduction for both C. perfringens NZRM 898 and NZRM 2621 spores. Then, the thermal inactivation first order kinetic parameters of C. perfringens spores in beef slurry were estimated for the two strains. The D105°C- and z-values were 2.5min and 10.6°C for NZRM 898 and 1.8min and 10.9°C for NZRM 2621. After, the effect of a spore heat shock followed by ultrasound on its thermal inactivation in beef slurry was investigated. This heat shock+ultrasound pretreatment was able to double the spore thermal inactivation rate in beef slurry. For example at 95°C D-value of 20.2min decreased to 9.8min, demonstrating that spore exposure to heat shock followed by ultrasonication enhanced its thermal inactivation. © 2015 Elsevier B.V | 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2015.04.013 |
pubmed_314_2485 | Many physiological and behavioral changes take place during pregnancy, including changes in taste and an increase in food intake. These changes are necessary to ensure growth and development of a healthy fetus. Both hyperphagia and taste changes during pregnancy may be induced by sex hormones estrogen and progesterone that are increased during pregnancy. Indeed, it has been shown that estrogen decreases food intake, while progesterone increases food intake. This is for instance apparent from the fact that food intake changes during the menstrual cycle with variation in sex hormones. This review will give a short overview of the effects of pregnancy and sex hormones on food intake and taste. | 10.1007/s12078-009-9061-5 |
pubmed_50_21490 | As two members of the basic helix-loop-helix family of transcription factors, HAND1 and HAND2 are both required for the embryonic cardiogenesis and postnatal ventricular structural remodeling. Recently a HAND1 mutation has been reported to cause dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, the association of a HAND2 mutation with DCM is still to be ascertained. In this research, the coding regions and splicing junction sites of the HAND2 gene were sequenced in 206 unrelated patients affected with idiopathic DCM, and a new heterozygous HAND2 mutation, NM_021973.2: c.199G > T; p.(Glu67*), was discovered in an index patient with DCM. The nonsense mutation was absent in 300 unrelated, ethnically-matched healthy persons. Genetic scan of the mutation carrier's family members revealed that the genetic mutation co-segregated with DCM, which was transmitted in an autosomal dominant fashion, with complete penetrance. Functional deciphers unveiled that the mutant HAND2 protein had no transcriptional activity. In addition, the mutation abrogated the synergistic transcriptional activation between HAND2 and GATA4 or between HAND2 and NKX2.5, two other cardiac transcription factors that have been implicated in DCM. These research findings firstly suggest HAND2 as a novel gene predisposing to DCM in humans, which adds novel insight to the molecular pathogenesis of DCM, implying potential implications in the design of personized preventive and therapeutic strategies against DCM. | 10.1016/j.ejmg.2018.09.007 |
pubmed_892_20791 | Although relocation stress syndrome (RSS) is not a diagnosis that is unique to rehabilitation patients, it is important for nurses practicing in rehabilitation environments to be knowledgeable about this phenomenon. Rehabilitation patients are at high risk for RSS. Nursing care planning should incorporate interventions that aim to prevent or reduce RSS. While various relocations are inherent in the rehabilitation process, emphasis should be placed on predictability of care and on patients and families having as much control over decision making as possible. The authors describe how appropriate assessment and management of RSS can facilitate smoother transitions throughout the rehabilitation process and permit a stronger focus on rehabilitation therapies and on patient and family teaching. | 10.1002/j.2048-7940.1996.tb01683.x |
pubmed_165_12833 | Nitric oxide (NO) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) play important roles in the pathogenesis of liver disease during acute inflammation. The present study was designed to elucidate the effect of NO pre-exposure on TNFalpha-induced hepatotoxicity. Pretreatment of primary cultures of rat hepatocytes with the NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) induced the expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) mRNA and protein, which was associated with thermotolerance and cytoprotection from TNFalpha+actinomycin D-induced hepatotoxicity and apoptosis. SNAP transiently changed the intracellular redox state by inducing glutathione (GSH) oxidation associated with the formation of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO). HSP70 mRNA was also induced by the GSH-oxidizing agent diamide and the GSH-conjugating agent N-ethylmaleimide, suggesting that NO induces HSP70 expression through GSH oxidation. The protective effect of SNAP pretreatment on TNFalpha-induced apoptosis correlated with the level of HSP70 expression. SNAP pretreatment inhibited reactive oxygen intermediate generation and lipid peroxidation effects that were reversed by blocking HSP70 expression using an antisense oligonucleotide to HSP70. Finally, endogenous NO formation, induced in hepatocytes stimulated with interferon-gamma and interleukin-1beta, led to the formation of GSNO and GSSG, induced HSP70, and attenuated TNFalpha-mediated cytotoxicity. These findings demonstrated that NO can induce resistance to TNFalpha-induced hepatotoxicity, possibly through the stimulation of HSP70 expression. | 10.1074/jbc.272.2.1402 |
pubmed_977_16597 | Germanium selenide (GeSe) bulk crystals, thin films and solar cells are investigated with a focus on acceptor-doping with silver (Ag) and the use of an Sb2Se3 interfacial layer. The Ag-doping of GeSe occurred by a stoichiometric melt growth technique that created Ag-doped GeSe bulk crystals. A combination of capacitance voltage measurements, synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy and surface space-charge calculations indicates that Ag-doping increases the hole density from 5.2 × 1015 cm-3 to 1.9 × 1016 cm-3. The melt-grown material is used as the source for thermally evaporated GeSe films within solar cells. The cell structure with the highest efficiency of 0.260% is FTO/CdS/Sb2Se3/undoped-GeSe/Au, compared with solar cells without the Sb2Se3 interfacial layer or with the Ag-doped GeSe. | 10.1039/d2fd00048b |
pubmed_301_21036 | BACKGROUND
The outcomes after traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC; one 10-mm port, one 12-mm port and two 5-mm ports) and minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy (MLC; three 3-mm ports and one 12-mm port) for gallstone disease were compared.
METHODS
The study was a randomized, single-blind trial comparing LC with MLC. Only elective patients were eligible for inclusion. LC was a routine procedure at the institution in which the study was performed, whereas MLC was introduced after a short training period. The randomization period was from January to December 2001.
RESULTS
Of 175 patients who had elective minimal access cholecystectomy during the randomization period, 135 entered the trial: 68 underwent LC and 67 underwent MLC. The groups were matched for age, sex and preoperative characteristics. Median (range) operating times for LC and MLC were similar (45 (20-120) and 50 (20-170) min respectively). Intraoperative and postoperative complication rates, the time for the patient to resume walking, eating and passing stools, and median hospital stay were the same in the two groups. The level of postoperative pain was lower in the MLC group at 1 h (P = 0.011), 3 h (P = 0.012), 6 h (P = 0.003), 12 h (P = 0.052) and 24 h (P = 0.034). Patients who had MLC received fewer injections of analgesic (P = 0.036) and more patients in this group expressed satisfaction with the cosmetic result (P = 0.001).
CONCLUSION
MLC took a similar time to perform and caused less postoperative pain than the standard laparoscopic procedure. Reducing the port size further enhanced the advantages of laparoscopic over open cholecystectomy. | 10.1002/bjs.4315 |
pubmed_218_10211 | The clinical use of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has expanded beyond its traditional place in the treatment of patients with primary immunodeficiencies. Due to its multiple anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties, IVIg is used successfully in a wide range of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. Recognized autoimmune indications include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), Kawasaki disease, Guillain-Barré syndrome and other autoimmune neuropathies, myasthenia gravis, dermatomyositis and several rare diseases. Several other indications are currently under investigation and require additional studies to establish firmly the benefit of IVIg treatment. Increasing attention is being turned to the use of IVIg in combination with other agents, such as immunosuppressive agents or monoclonal antibodies. For example, recent studies suggest that combination therapy with IVIg and rituximab (an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody) may be effective for treatment of autoimmune mucocutaneous blistering diseases (AMBDs), with sustained clinical remission. The combination of IVIg and rituximab has also been used in the setting of organ transplantation. Firstly, IVIg +/- rituximab has been administered to highly human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-sensitized patients to reduce anti-HLA antibody levels, thereby allowing transplantation in these patients. Secondly, IVIg in combination with rituximab is effective in the treatment of antibody-mediated rejection following transplantation. Treatment with polyclonal IVIg is a promising adjunctive therapy for severe sepsis and septic shock, but its use remains controversial and further study is needed before it can be recommended routinely. This review covers new developments in these fields and highlights the broad range of potential therapeutic areas in which IVIg may have a clinical impact. | 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2009.04024.x |
pubmed_910_18561 | The local interaction between graphene and a host substrate strongly determines the actual properties of the graphene layer. Here we show that scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) can selectively help to visualize either the graphene layer or the substrate underneath, or even both at the same time, providing a comprehensive picture of this coupling with atomic precision and high energy resolution. We demonstrate this for graphene on Cu(111). Our spectroscopic data show that, in the vicinity of the Fermi level, graphene π bands are well preserved presenting a small n-doping induced by Cu(111) surface state electrons. Such results are corroborated by Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectra (ARPES) and Density Functional Theory with van der Waals (DFT + vdW) calculations. Graphene tunable transparency also allows the investigation of the interaction between the substrate and foreign species (such as atomic H or C vacancies) on the graphene layer. Our calculations explain graphene tunable transparency in terms of the rather different decay lengths of the graphene Dirac π states and the metal surface state, suggesting that it should apply to a good number of graphene/substrate systems. | 10.1021/acsnano.6b00322 |
others_333_837 | We investigated the effect of a lymphokine termed 'suppressive B-cell factor' (SBF), which is produced by FcRγ (Fc receptor for IgG)-stimulated B cells or hybridoma TS4,44 and is known to suppress B-cell responses in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting their proliferation. Small B cells, fractionated by Percoll density gradient, from athymic nude mice (BALB/c) secreted SBF after binding EA (sheep erythrocytes sensitized with IgG mouse anti-sheep erythrocyte antibody), and the proliferation of small but not large B cells was preferentially suppressed by SBF in response to LPS in vitro. Proliferation of purified B cells from BALB/c/nu/nu mice, induced by a synergistic interaction between F(ab')2 fragment of goat anti-mouse IgM antibody and B cell stimulating factor (SBF1), was almost completely abrogated by the co-existence of SBF during the 72-hr culture period. However, the co-culture with SBF for the last 24 or 48 hr, as well as of B cells pretreated with SBF for 1 hr at 37°, partially inhibited the growth response. These findings suggest that SBF operates on resting B cells and holds them in a resting state. This notion would be further supported by the fact that SBF inhibited G0-G1 transition. Taken together, we conclude that SBF acts on the early step of B cell-activation, thereby inhibiting B cell growth. Arrest of resting B cells in the G0 phase and failure of an increase in functional receptors for BSF1 seems to be responsible for the suppression of B-cell responses | others_333_837 |
pubmed_698_10245 | To establish the third lot (Control 0201) of the Endotoxin 100 Reference Standard of the National Institute of Health Sciences (the Japanese Pharmacopoeia Endotoxin 100 Reference Standard), a candidate standard (CS) was prepared and then evaluated. The potency of the CS was assayed against USP Endotoxin Reference Standard (Lot G-1) and defined as containing approximately 130 endotoxin units (EU) per vial by a collaborative study in which 5 laboratories participated. Based on the results, the CS was authorized to be the third lot of the Endotoxin 100 Reference Standard containing 130 EU of endotoxin per vial. | pubmed_698_10245 |
pubmed_90_2094 | 125I-alpha-Bungarotoxin (alpha-BGT) was used to characterize the binding sites for cholinergic ligands in lobster walking leg nerve membranes. The toxin binding component has been visualized histochemically on the external surfaces of intact axons and isolated axonal membrane fragments. Binding of alpha-BGT to nerve membrane preparations was demonstrated to be saturable and highly reversible (KappD congruent to 1.7 +/- 0.32 X 10(-7) M; Bmax congruent to 249 +/- 46 pmol/mg protein) at pH 7.8, 10 mM-Tris buffer. Binding showed a marked sensitivity to ionic strength that was attributable to the competitive effects of inorganic cations (particularly Ca2+ and Mg2+) in the medium. 125I-alpha-BGT binding could be inhibited by cholinergic drugs (atropine congruent to d-tubocurarine greater than nicotine greater than carbamylcholine congruent to choline) and local anesthetics (procaine greater that tetracaine congruent to lidocaine), but was unaffected by other neuroactive compounds tested (e.g., tetrodotoxin, 4-aminopyridine, quinuclidinyl benzilate, octopamine, bicuculline, haloperidol, ouabain). The pharmacological sensitivity of toxin binding resembles that of nicotine binding to axonal membranes, but differs significantly from nicotinic cholinergic receptors described in neuromuscular junctions, fish electric organs, sympathetic ganglia, and the CNS. The possible physiological relevance of the axonal cholinergic binding component and its relationship to alpha-BGT binding sites in other tissues are discussed. | 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1981.tb00468.x |
pubmed_286_520 | In recent years, a wide range of diagnostic tests has become available for use in resource-constrained settings. Accordingly, a huge number of guidelines, performance evaluations and implementation reports have been produced. However, this wealth of information is unstructured and of uneven quality, which has made it difficult for end-users, such as clinics, laboratories and health ministries, to determine which test would be best for improving clinical care and patient outcomes in a specific context. This paper outlines a six-step guide to the selection and implementation of in vitro diagnostic tests based on Médecins Sans Frontières' practical experience: (i) define the test's purpose; (ii) review the market; (iii) ascertain regulatory approval; (iv) determine the test's diagnostic accuracy under ideal conditions; (v) determine the test's diagnostic accuracy in clinical practice; and (vi) monitor the test's performance in routine use. Gaps in the information needed to complete these six steps and gaps in regulatory systems are highlighted. Finally, ways of improving the quality of diagnostic tests are suggested, such as establishing a model list of essential diagnostics, establishing a repository of information on the design of diagnostic studies and improving quality control and postmarketing surveillance. | 10.2471/BLT.16.187468 |
pubmed_1125_18138 | Proanthocyanidins (PAs) are plant secondary metabolites and are composed primarily of catechin and epicatechin units in higher plant species. Due to the ability of PAs to bind reversibly with plant proteins to improve digestion and reduce bloat, engineering this pathway in leaves is a major goal for forage breeders. Here, we report the cloning and expression analysis of anthocyanidin reductase (ANR) and leucoanthocyanidin 4-reductase (LAR), two genes encoding enzymes committed to epicatechin and catechin biosynthesis, respectively, in Lotus corniculatus. We show the presence of two LAR gene families (LAR1 and LAR2) and that the steady-state levels of ANR and LAR1 genes correlate with the levels of PAs in leaves of wild-type and transgenic plants. Interestingly, ANR and LAR1, but not LAR2, genes produced active proteins following heterologous expression in Escherichia coli and are affected by the same basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that promotes PA accumulation in cells of palisade and spongy mesophyll. This study provides direct evidence that the same subclass of transcription factors can mediate the expression of the structural genes of both branches of PA biosynthesis. | 10.1104/pp.106.090886 |
pubmed_512_24887 | The European Union Council Directive 2006/88/EC requires that risk-based surveillance (RBS) for listed aquatic animal diseases is applied to all aquaculture production businesses. The principle behind this is the efficient use of resources directed towards high-risk farm categories, animal types and geographic areas. To achieve this requirement, fish and shellfish farms must be ranked according to their risk of disease introduction and spread. We present a method to risk rank shellfish farming areas based on the risk of disease introduction and spread and demonstrate how the approach was applied in 45 shellfish farming areas in England and Wales. Ten parameters were used to inform the risk model, which were grouped into four risk themes based on related pathways for transmission of pathogens: (i) live animal movement, (ii) transmission via water, (iii) short distance mechanical spread (birds) and (iv) long distance mechanical spread (vessels). Weights (informed by expert knowledge) were applied both to individual parameters and to risk themes for introduction and spread to reflect their relative importance. A spreadsheet model was developed to determine quantitative scores for the risk of pathogen introduction and risk of pathogen spread for each shellfish farming area. These scores were used to independently rank areas for risk of introduction and for risk of spread. Thresholds were set to establish risk categories (low, medium and high) for introduction and spread based on risk scores. Risk categories for introduction and spread for each area were combined to provide overall risk categories to inform a risk-based surveillance programme directed at the area level. Applying the combined risk category designation framework for risk of introduction and spread suggested by European Commission guidance for risk-based surveillance, 4, 10 and 31 areas were classified as high, medium and low risk, respectively. | 10.1111/tbed.12492 |
pubmed_506_4655 | AIM
The study evaluated, in a proof of concept, the usefulness of a prosthesis (plug) in addition to video assisted ablation of pilonidal sinus (VAAPS) for treatment of recurrent pilonidal sinus.
METHOD
This is a case series of recurrent complex pilonidal sinus treated by VAAPS plus plug positioning.
RESULTS
Four patients were analysed. All were successfully treated by this new approach. No difficulties in inserting the plug were identified. Complete healing was achieved in all cases. No infection or recurrence was reported during a limited follow-up.
CONCLUSION
This new technique allows a minimally invasive scarless approach to recurrent pilonidal sinus. | 10.1111/codi.12770 |
pubmed_977_23765 | INTRODUCTION
Annually, 7.9 million neonates in the world have developmental anomalies. Together with prema turity, they constitute the main causes of mortality during the first year of life in developed and de veloping countries. In Chile, the estimated prevalence is 3.9% of all live births. There are no reports on the prevalence of malformations in the Araucanía Region.
OBJECTIVE
to estimate the prevalence of congenital malformations at birth in neonates hospitalized in a Neonatology Service.
PATIENTS AND METHOD
cross-sectional study. Reference population: 54,241 live births at the Regional Hospi tal of Temuco over a 10-year period. Cases came from the neonatology hospital discharge database according to the ICD 10 classification, from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2018. Descriptive and analytical statistics were performed with the STATA 15 software.
RESULTS
949 neonates with one or more congenital malformations were identified. The overall prevalence of neonates with malforma tions was 1.7%, the most prevalent being ventricular septal defect 40.9 x 10,000 live newborns (LNB), atrial septal defect 21.5 x 10,000 LNB, cleft lip and palate 14.0 x 10,000 LNB, congenital hypertrophic cardiomyopathies 8.1 x 10,000 LNB, and congenital rectal atresia and stenosis or absence of the anus 7.9 x 10,000 LNB.
CONCLUSIONS
the overall prevalence of malformations is similar to that reported for the country. When analyzing by type, we found significantly higher incidences than those repor ted in previous studies. | 10.32641/andespediatr.v93i3.3854 |
pubmed_770_6777 | It has been postulated that oxygen-centered free radicals are produced in significant quantities upon reperfusion of ischemic myocardium and could cause the death of myocytes that are still reversibly injured at the end of ischemia ("reperfusion injury"). However, we have shown previously that anti-free radical therapies including superoxide dismutase (SOD) and inhibitors of xanthine oxidase did not limit infarct size after 40 minutes of ischemia and 4 days of reperfusion in dogs. To test whether 40 minutes of ischemia is too brief a period to produce the prerequisite conditions for free radical-mediated necrosis upon reperfusion, we studied infarcts produced by 90 minutes of ischemia followed by reperfusion. Dogs in an SOD-catalase group received a 60-minute infusion of SOD (15,000 units/kg) and catalase (55,000 units/kg) beginning 25 minutes before and ending 35 minutes after reperfusion. A second group of dogs received a single injection of the xanthine oxidase inhibitor oxypurinol (20 mg/kg) 25 minutes before reperfusion. Infarct size was assessed histologically relative to the size of the area at risk and to collateral blood flow to the ischemic region. Infarct size as a percentage of the area at risk was similar in the control group (40.7 +/- 5.5%, n = 11), the SOD-catalase group (38.0 +/- 6.4%; n = 8), and the oxypurinol-treated group (41.4 +/- 6.1%; n = 7) [p = not significant (NS) by analysis of variance]. In controls, there was an inverse relation between infarct size and collateral blood flow; neither of the treatments altered this relation (p = NS by analysis of covariance).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) | 10.1161/01.cir.78.2.473 |
pubmed_867_4748 | From 10 litters of intact Fischer rats, three groups of each sex were formed on the basis of body weight at 30 days of age: Light (L), Medium and Heavy (H). Their weights were examined again at 60, 90, and 120 days. At 60 days the M animals had caught up with the H group, leaving behind the L animals which remained lighter at the end of the experiment. Starting at 63 days, the animals were given several behavioral tests. Behavioral differences between M and H groups existed at the age when weight differences between them had disappeared. The results indicate the longlasting effect of naturally occurring within-litter differences in body weight and behavior. The procedure used may help in studies of longlasting effects of early feeding. | 10.1016/0031-9384(87)90266-6 |
others_30_8786 | and aims: Policy-oriented successive land use conversion intensively occurred in seasonally frozen zones of China during the past five decades. However, responses of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) to land use conversion under cold temperate climates are not fully understood. The objective was to characterize C and N variations following a succession of forest, dryland and paddy.; Methods: Soil cores were collected for 6 layers with a 10 cm increment from three adjacent chronosequences to determine concentrations of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and alkaline hydrolysable nitrogen (HN). Analysis of variance with multivariate general linear model was operated on data sets.; Conclusion: Successive land use conversion from forest to cropland affected C and N levels in deeper layers, demonstrating the high potentials of subsoil in sequestrating C and N. The extents of cultivation-induced SOC and TN redistribution along soil profile varied among different agricultural systems. DOC and HN changes interpreted SOC and TN changes with land use, presenting high involvements of soluble compartments in SOC and TN variations. The net variation in SOC/TN ratio effectively indicated C and N changes when dryland was converted to paddy.; Results: Significant losses of SOC and TN storages subject to land use conversion were merely confined within 0 – 10 cm layer, decreasing by 16 % and 38 % for forest to dryland and by 23 % and 43 % for forest to paddy, respectively. Cultivation also influenced SOC and TN stocks at 20 – 40 cm depth for dryland and 20 – 60 cm depth for paddy with increases by 38 Mg C ha−1 and 2.8 Mg N ha−1 for forest to dryland, and by 56 Mg C ha−1 and 4.1 Mg N ha−1 for forest to paddy, respectively. © 2014, Springer International Publishing Switzerl | 10.1007/s11104-014-2284-5 |
pubmed_723_11879 | Custodial deaths refer to the death of an individual who is in prison, a detention center, or a police station. The present study aims to retrospectively analyze cases of custodial deaths examined at Tongji Medico Legal Expertise Center in Hubei (TMECH). A total of 172 out of 5853 cases were screened at TMECH from January 1999 to December 2016. Male preponderance was observed in 172 cases (male-female ratio: 5:1). Natural deaths accounted for the majority (70.93%), followed by suicide (16.28%), accidents (3.49%), homicides (4.65%), and undetermined causes (4.65%). The most common natural cause was cardiovascular disease. Custodial deaths occurred more frequently in prisons and detention houses than in police cells (63%, 63%, and 46%, respectively). Among the 172 cases, 105 deaths occurred after resuscitation failure despite the individual being sent to the hospital. The average age across cases was 36.3 years, and 90% of the deceased were aged under 50 years. Since there is no officially reported data regarding the prevalence of causes and manners of custodial deaths in China, our analysis contributes to enhancing the understanding of such deaths in central China and serves as a reference for law enforcement to develop a prevention program to reduce incidents of mortality in custody. | 10.1007/s00414-019-02209-8 |
pubmed_320_8842 | In figure ID (p. 680) of the report "Genetic decreases in atrial natriuretic peptide and salt-sensitive hypertension" by Simon W. M. John et al. (3 Feb., p. 679), the size bars to the right and left of the Southern blot were not correctly aligned in relation to the dark bands. | 10.1126/science.267.5205.1753-b |
pubmed_150_24998 | TiO2 nanocrystals were prepared by a controlled hydrolysis procedure at room temperature. The effect of V-doping, N-doping and V/N codoping on the lattice parameters and magnetic properties of TiO2 nanocrystals was investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and vibration sample magnetometry. Doping performed at room temperature causes the expansion of lattice parameters. Undoped and doped TiO2 nanocrystals show room-temperature ferromagnetism. A monotonic correlation between saturation magnetization and the ratio of the lattice parameter c to a (c/a) was observed. Saturation magnetization of TiO2 nanocrystals increases with the value of c/a. | 10.1166/jnn.2016.10931 |
pubmed_709_3742 | The influence of embedding media on the fading of FITC-labelled coverslip cultures was tested. It was found, that the value of the fading depend on the pH value of the embedding media. In glycerin-PBS pH 8.5 as embedding media and immediate measuring the fluorescence intensity, the decrease of the fluorescence intensity after 300 seconds blue light excitation was 5%. | pubmed_709_3742 |
pubmed_670_15570 | Mono- and oligosaccharides, each containing a reducing end group, were labeled with the charged fluorophore 8-aminonaphthalene-1,3,6-trisulphonic acid and the resulting derivatives were separated with high resolution by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using a method developed recently (P. Jackson, Biochem. J. 1990, 270, 705-713) but with an alternative electrophoretic buffer system. The fluorescent derivatives of glucose and all its straight chain, alpha 1-4 linked, oligomers from maltose to maltoheptaose were well resolved. Various isomers such as maltose and lactose could be separated, as were maltose and cellobiose and some epimers, for instance glucose and galactose. The method was applied to the analysis of the partial sequential degradation of a complex oligosaccharide with neuraminidase and beta-galactosidase. Gels showing fluorescent saccharide band patterns were recorded in picomolar quantities either photographically or using an imaging system based on a cooled charge-coupled device. | 10.1002/elps.1150120118 |
pubmed_240_7505 | RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES
Roe and Metz (RM) proposed a model for simulating multireader multicase (MRMC) data collected from a factorial study design in which readers read the same cases in all modalities. However, a major weakness of the RM model is that it generates data according to an equal-variance binormal model for each reader. This article extends the RM model by allowing the diseased and nondiseased decision-variable distributions to have unequal variances for each reader.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
I show how to modify the RM model so that it generates data according to an unequal-variance binormal model for each reader. In doing so, I preserve other important characteristics of the original simulation input values. The mean-to-sigma ratio, which describes the relationship between the means and variances of the diseased and nondiseased decision-variable distributions, is constrained to have a value that is representative of many data sets. This last point is illustrated with an example comparing the performances of spin echo and cine magnetic resonance imaging for detecting thoracic aortic dissection.
RESULTS
A simulation study is performed to assess the performance of the MRMC methods proposed by Dorfman, Berbaum, and Metz and by Obuchowski and Rockette using the proposed unequal variance extension of the RM model. The methods show either excellent or acceptable performance when there are at least five readers and at least 25 normal and 25 abnormal cases.
CONCLUSIONS
The proposed extension of the RM simulation model generates data that are more similar to data collected from radiological studies. | pubmed_240_7505 |
pubmed_1054_10477 | A 6-year-old girl with severe aplastic anaemia improved promptly after treatment with anti-human lymphocyte globulin (ALG). Blood T lymphocytes were proved to have a suppressive effect on erythroid colony formation. ALG was administered intravenously at a dose of 15 mg/kg/d for 5 d. By the 14th d she showed a prompt increase in the reticulocyte count. Within the next 2 weeks slight increase of the platelet count was observed while the neutrophil count remained unchanged. The suppressive effect of T cells on erythroid colony formation weakened when the reticulocyte count exceeded 100 X 10(9)/l. About 4 months after administration of ALG, a decreased reticulocyte count was observed along with frequent nasal bleeding. Again the T cells exhibited a suppressive effect on erythroid colony formation. The results of serial co-culture studies revealed a close correlation between the T-cell suppressive effect on erythroid colony formation and reticulocyte response. The findings suggest an immune-mediated mechanism for the haematopoietic disorder in this patient. | pubmed_1054_10477 |
pubmed_704_15736 | The ability to navigate complex unstructured environments and carry out inspection tasks requires robots to be capable of climbing inclined surfaces and to be equipped with a sensor payload. These features are desirable for robots that are used to inspect and monitor offshore energy platforms. Existing climbing robots mostly use rigid actuators, and robots that use soft actuators are not fully untethered yet. Another major problem with current climbing robots is that they are not built in a modular fashion, which makes it harder to adapt the system to new tasks, to repair the system, and to replace and reconfigure modules. This work presents a 450 g and a 250 × 250 × 140 mm modular, untethered hybrid hard/soft robot-Limpet II. The Limpet II uses a hybrid electromagnetic module as its core module to allow adhesion and locomotion capabilities. The adhesion capability is based on negative pressure adhesion utilizing suction cups. The locomotion capability is based on slip-stick locomotion. The Limpet II also has a sensor payload with nine different sensing modalities, which can be used to inspect and monitor offshore structures and the conditions surrounding them. Since the Limpet II is designed as a modular system, the modules can be reconfigured to achieve multiple tasks. To demonstrate its potential for inspection of offshore platforms, we show that the Limpet II is capable of responding to different sensory inputs, repositioning itself within its environment, adhering to structures made of different materials, and climbing inclined surfaces. | 10.1089/soro.2019.0161 |
pubmed_6_17032 | Claudin-2 promotes breast cancer liver metastasis by enabling seeding and early cancer cell survival. We now demonstrate that Claudin-2 is functionally required for colorectal cancer liver metastasis and that Claudin-2 expression in primary colorectal cancers is associated with poor overall and liver metastasis-free survival. We have examined the role of Claudin-2, and other claudin family members, as potential prognostic biomarkers of the desmoplastic and replacement histopathological growth pattern associated with colorectal cancer liver metastases. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed higher Claudin-2 levels in replacement type metastases when compared to those with desmoplastic features. In contrast, Claudin-8 was highly expressed in desmoplastic colorectal cancer liver metastases. Similar observations were made following immunohistochemical staining of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) that we have established, which faithfully retain the histopathology of desmoplastic or replacement type colorectal cancer liver metastases. We provide evidence that Claudin-2 status in patient-derived extracellular vesicles may serve as a relevant prognostic biomarker to predict whether colorectal cancer patients have developed replacement type liver metastases. Such a biomarker will be a valuable tool in designing optimal treatment strategies to better manage patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases. | 10.1038/s42003-021-02189-9 |
pubmed_793_2684 | Xenopus laevis were kept in salt water (1.25% NaCl), distilled water, or tapwater for a month. Compared to the animals kept in tap water, the number of mitochondria-rich (MR) cells in the NaCl-adapted animals was significantly reduced, while it was increased in those maintained in distilled water. In addition, the MR-cells of NaCl-adapted animals lost their slender flask shape and developed large deposits of glycogen. The alteration of this cell type in conditions of high or low salinity may reflect a role of MR-cells in adaptation to different ionic environments. | 10.1002/ar.1091960205 |
pubmed_103_18953 | Stochastic, spatial reaction-diffusion simulations have been widely used in systems biology and computational neuroscience. However, the increasing scale and complexity of models and morphologies have exceeded the capacity of any serial implementation. This led to the development of parallel solutions that benefit from the boost in performance of modern supercomputers. In this paper, we describe an MPI-based, parallel operator-splitting implementation for stochastic spatial reaction-diffusion simulations with irregular tetrahedral meshes. The performance of our implementation is first examined and analyzed with simulations of a simple model. We then demonstrate its application to real-world research by simulating the reaction-diffusion components of a published calcium burst model in both Purkinje neuron sub-branch and full dendrite morphologies. Simulation results indicate that our implementation is capable of achieving super-linear speedup for balanced loading simulations with reasonable molecule density and mesh quality. In the best scenario, a parallel simulation with 2,000 processes runs more than 3,600 times faster than its serial SSA counterpart, and achieves more than 20-fold speedup relative to parallel simulation with 100 processes. In a more realistic scenario with dynamic calcium influx and data recording, the parallel simulation with 1,000 processes and no load balancing is still 500 times faster than the conventional serial SSA simulation. | 10.3389/fninf.2017.00013 |
pubmed_89_9462 | OBJECTIVE
Patients treated for colon cancer report many symptoms that affect quality of life (QoL). Survivorship care aims at QoL improvement. In this study, we assess associations between symptoms and seeking supportive care and lower QoL and QoL changes overtime during survivorship care.
METHODS
A prospective cohort of colon cancer survivors. Questionnaires are administered at inclusion and 6 months later to evaluate symptoms, functioning and seeking supportive care including associations with QoL, using the EORTC QLQ-C30.
RESULTS
The mean QoL score at the first questionnaire was 82 (scale 1-100), which improved over time. Pain, bowel symptoms and problems in physical, role, cognitive or social functioning are associated with lower QoL at inclusion but are not associated with QoL changes over time. Seeking support for lower bowel symptoms, physical functioning or fatigue is associated with lower QoL. After 6 months, seeking support for upper bowel symptoms or physical functioning is associated with a tendency towards less QoL improvement.
CONCLUSION
QoL of colon cancer survivors improves over 6 months, but seeking support for specific symptoms barely contribute to this improvement.
IMPLICATIONS
This study confirms the importance of addressing symptoms, problems related to functioning and seeking supportive care during survivorship care. | 10.1111/ecc.13601 |
pubmed_394_13407 | INTRODUCTION
We investigated the effects on hemodynamics and gas exchange of a lipid emulsion enriched with omega-3 fatty acids in patients with ARDS.
METHODS
The design was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, parallel group study in our Intensive Medicine Department of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (Barcelona-Spain). We studied 16 consecutive patients with ARDS and intolerance to enteral nutrition (14 men and 2 women; mean age: 58 +/- 13 years; APACHE II score: 17.8 +/- 2.3; Lung Injury Score: 3.1 +/- 0.5; baseline PaO2/FiO2 ratio: 149 +/- 40). Patients were randomized into 2 groups: Group A (n = 8) received the study emulsion Lipoplus 20%, B.Braun Medical (50% MCT, 40% LCT, 10% omega-3); Group B (n = 8) received the control emulsion Intralipid Fresenius Kabi (100% LCT). Lipid emulsions were administered during 12 h at a dose of 0.12 g/kg/h. Measurements of the main hemodynamic and gas exchange parameters were made at baseline (immediately before administration of the lipid emulsions), every hour during the lipid infusion, at the end of administration, and six hours after the end of administration lipid infusion.
RESULTS
No statistically significant changes were observed in the different hemodynamic values analyzed. Likewise, the gas exchange parameters did not show statistically significant differences during the study. No adverse effect attributable to the lipid emulsions was seen in the patients analyzed.
CONCLUSION
The lipid emulsion enriched with omega-3 fatty acids was safe and well tolerated in short-term administration to patients with ARDS. It did not cause any significant changes in hemodynamic and gas exchange parameters.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ISRCTN63673813. | 10.1186/1476-511X-7-39 |
pubmed_142_11486 | The polycomb group protein enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is regarded as a tightly linking oncogene in many types of cancer. However, the prognostic role of EZH2 in breast cancer (BC) still remains controversial. Our study aimed to evaluate the clinical and prognostic relevance of EZH2 in BC patients based on published studies. 11 studies totally containing 2330 patients (1052 EZH2-positive and 1278 EZH2-negative) were included in our meta-analysis. Our data showed that EZH2 over-expression was significantly associated with estrogen receptor (ER) negativity [OR=0.227, 95% CI=0.174-0.297, P=0.000], progesterone receptor (PR) negativity [OR=0.454, 95% CI=0.300-0.687, P=0.000], human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER-2) positivity [OR=1.846, 95% CI=1.366-2.496, P=0.000], invasive ductal cancer (IDC) [OR=2.237, 95% CI=1.489-3.361, P=0.000], race (Caucasian) [OR=0.707, 95% CI=0.522-0.957, P=0.025], high histological grade [OR=3.177, 95% CI=2.012-5.014, P=0.000] and triple-negative status (TNBCs) [OR=5.380, 95% CI=1.065-27.187, P=0.042], which led to a poor OS rate in BC [RR=2.193, 95% CI=1.495-3.217, P=0.000]. In conclusion, EZH2 participated in the progression of BC as a putative factor, and over-expression of EZH2 was distinctly correlated with a poor patient survival. EZH2 may serve as a prognostic biomarker and target in BC patients. | pubmed_142_11486 |
pubmed_341_23918 | Post-translational modifications of histone H3 N-terminal tails are key epigenetic regulators of virulence gene expression and sexual commitment in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum Here, we identify proteolytic clipping of the N-terminal tail of nucleosome-associated histone H3 at amino acid position 21 as a new chromatin modification. A cathepsin C-like proteolytic clipping activity is observed in nuclear parasite extracts. Notably, an ectopically expressed version of clipped histone H3, PfH3p-HA, is targeted to the nucleus and integrates into mononucleosomes. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation and next-generation sequencing analysis identified PfH3p-HA as being highly enriched in the upstream region of six genes that play a key role in DNA replication and repair: In these genes, PfH3p-HA demarcates a specific 1.5 kb chromatin island adjacent to the open reading frame. Our results indicate that, in P. falciparum, the process of histone clipping may precede chromatin integration hinting at preferential targeting of pre-assembled PfH3p-containing nucleosomes to specific genomic regions. The discovery of a protease-directed mode of chromatin organization in P. falciparum opens up new avenues to develop new anti-malarials. | 10.15252/embr.201846331 |
pubmed_49_17831 | Plasma inactive renin (IRA) were assayed through open heart surgery by trypsin treatment in twenty-two patients. Postoperatively plasma renin activities and IRA increased, remarkably in IRA, however total renin activities were lesser than plasma renin activities during extracorporeal circulation. From the results of addition of 125I-angiotensin I before trypsin treatment, the presence of unknown enzyme was assumed, which was activated by trypsin and catalyzed angiotensin I in extracorporeal circulation. Bacterial enzyme, thermolysin, also activated plasma inactive renin, more stably until 60 min at 0-37 degrees C than trypsin. By trypsin, activities were in peaks at 1 min and gradually decreased thereafter. Conclusively we could assess the superiority of thermolysin treatment over trypsin treatment. | pubmed_49_17831 |
pubmed_1110_11478 | BACKGROUND
Robotic thyroidectomy has many advantages with comparable oncologic safety over conventional open surgery in low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer cases. However, there have been few reports on the outcomes of patients who have been treated with robotic thyroidectomy for more advanced thyroid cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the validity of expanding indications of robotic thyroidectomy for more advanced thyroid cancer.
METHODS
The data of 80 patients with thyroid cancer who underwent robotic total thyroidectomy between January 2013 and December 2014 performed by a single surgeon at Chung-Ang University Hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Among them, 40 patients who had cancer larger than 2 cm or suspicious capsular invasion, or central lymph node (LN) metastasis in preoperative pathologic and radiologic examinations were categorized into the more advanced thyroid cancer group and the remaining patients into the early thyroid cancer group. We compared surgical safety and surgical completeness parameters between the two groups.
RESULTS
The patients in more advanced thyroid cancer group had larger tumors, more extrathyroidal extension, and higher T stages. Surgical safety parameters, such as hypoparathyroidism, vocal cord palsy, and other complications did not differ significantly between the two groups. Surgical completeness parameters, such as the mean number of retrieved LNs, median values of the stimulated thyroglobulin levels, and the proportion of patients with stimulated thyroglobulin levels less than 1 ng/mL, also did not differ significantly.
CONCLUSIONS
The outcomes of the patients with more advanced thyroid cancer who were treated with robotic thyroidectomy were comparable to those of the early cancer group patients. Well-designed investigations that are conducted at multiple centers are needed to affirm the validity of expanding indications of robotic thyroidectomy. | 10.1007/s00464-018-6067-6 |
pubmed_371_466 | Effects of AF-DX 116, a cardioselective antagonist, on M cholinergic receptors (M-ChR) were studied in healthy volunteers. Occupancy of M-ChR subtypes by drug present in plasma samples (radioreceptor assay) was compared with these effects. After an intravenous dose of AF-DX 116 saturating greater than 90% of cardiac M2-ChR, an increase in heart rate by 25 beats/min was observed. This cardiac receptor occupancy and effect wore off with a parallel time course within 10 hours. No inhibition of salivary flow was observed, coinciding with a lack of M3-ChR blockade in the radioreceptor assay. Beta-adrenergic receptor blockade by propranolol did not affect either of the effects. No indication for active metabolites or stereoselective drug metabolism was found comparing HPLC and receptor assay for drug concentrations in plasma. We conclude that AF-DX 116 may be a useful drug for the treatment of bradycardia. Its lack of troublesome side effects is the result of its selectivity for cardiac M-ChR. | 10.1038/clpt.1991.153 |
pubmed_902_2088 | This work studied the replication sites of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) after intravenous inoculation. The cynomolgus monkeys were inoculated with the Brazilian hepatitis A virus strain (HAF-203). Monkeys were euthanized on days 15, 30, 45 and 60 postinoculation (pi). Liver samples, submandibular salivary gland, mesenteric lymph node and tonsils were removed for virological and pathological evaluation. Immunofluorescence analyses on liver and salivary gland sections using confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed the presence of HAV antigen (HAV Ag). The presence of HAV genome was monitored by real-time PCR. The HAV RNA was detected at 7 days postinoculation (dpi), concomitantly in serum, saliva and faeces. The highest HAV viral load was observed in faeces at 15 dpi (10(5) copies/ml), followed by serum viral load of 10(4) copies/ml at 20 dpi and saliva viral load of 10(3 )copies/ml at 7 dpi. The animals showed first histological and biochemical signs of hepatitis at 15 dpi. The HAV antigen (Ag) was present from day 7 until day 60 pi in the liver and salivary glands. The HAV replicative intermediate was also detected in the liver (4.5 x 10(4) copies/mg), salivary glands (1.9 x 10(3) copies/mg), tonsils (4.2 x 10(1) copies/mg) and lymph nodes (3.4 x 10(1) copies/mg). Our data demonstrated that the salivary gland as an extrahepatic site of early HAV replication could create a potential risk of saliva transmitted infection. In addition, the cynomolgus monkey was confirmed as a suitable model to study the pathogenesis of HAV human infection. | 10.1111/j.1365-2613.2009.00699.x |
others_199_14071 | The excretion frequencies of cecal and intestinal droppings of Chinese Lingnan yellow chickens were observed for 10 consecutive days. The chickens were then orally inoculated with a precocious line of Eimeria necatrix, and the oocysts present in the cecal and intestinal droppings were separately collected and monitored using the McMaster method. The results showed that the excretion frequency of cecal droppings was significantly lower than that of intestinal droppings, and the oocysts of E. necatrix were distributed primarily in the cecal droppings. This distribution affects the homogeneity of the second and third generation of oocysts ingested by the chickens and therefore affects the immune effect observed during E. necatrix immunization. To artificially strengthen the immunologic homogeneity against E. necatrix, a method of artificially strengthening the second immunization was applied, and the immune effect was evaluated based on oocyst excretion, body weight gain, fecal scores, intestinal lesion scores and survival percentages. The results showed that no significant intestinal damage was caused by immunization reactions in the chickens. In addition, the number of excreted oocysts in the immunized chicken groups could be significantly increased, and the immunologic homogeneity of the immunized chickens could be improved by artificially strengthening the second immunization, which could in turn improve the immune protective effect. © 2016 Elsevier I | 10.1016/j.exppara.2016.02.011 |
pubmed_690_16979 | Pseudomonas sp. strain JS150 was isolated as a nonencapsulated variant of Pseudomonas sp. strain JS1 that contains the genes for the degradative pathways of a wide range of substituted aromatic compounds. Pseudomonas sp. strain JS150 grew on phenol, ethylbenzene, toluene, benzene, naphthalene, benzoate, p-hydroxybenzoate, salicylate, chlorobenzene, and several 1,4-dihalogenated benzenes. We designed experiments to determine the conditions required for induction of the individual pathways and to determine whether multiple substrates could be biodegraded simultaneously. Oxygen consumption studies with whole cells and enzyme assays with cell extracts showed that the enzymes of the meta, ortho, and modified ortho cleavage pathways can be induced in strain JS150. Strain JS150 contains a nonspecific toluene dioxygenase with a substrate range similar to that found in strains of Pseudomonas putida. The presence of the dioxygenase along with multiple pathways for metabolism of substituted catechols allows facile extension of the growth range by spontaneous mutation and degradation of mixtures of substituted benzenes and phenols. Chlorobenzene-grown cells of strain JS150 degraded mixtures of chlorobenzene, benzene, toluene, naphthalene, trichloroethylene, and 1,2- and 1,4-dichlorobenzenes in continuous culture. Under similar conditions, phenol-grown cells degraded a mixture of phenol, 2-chloro-, 3-chloro, and 2,5-dichlorophenol and 2-methyl- and 3-methylphenol. These results indicate that induction of appropriate biodegradative pathways in strain JS150 permits the biodegradation of complex mixtures of aromatic compounds. | 10.1128/aem.58.7.2237-2244.1992 |
pubmed_433_2670 | Streptococcus mutans is a major cariogenic pathogen that resides in multispecies oral microbial biofilms. The VicRK 2-component system is crucial for bacterial adaptation, virulence, and biofilm organization and contains a global and vital response regulator, VicR. Notably, we identified an antisense vicR RNA (ASvicR) associated with an adjacent RNase III-encoding (rnc) gene that was relevant to microRNA-size small RNAs (msRNAs). Here, we report that ASvicR overexpression significantly impeded bacterial growth, biofilm exopolysaccharide synthesis, and cariogenicity in vivo. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the ASvicR RNA mainly regulated carbohydrate metabolism. In particular, overproducing ASvicR demonstrated a reduction in galactose and glucose metabolism by monosaccharide composition analysis. The results of high-performance gel permeation chromatography revealed that the water-insoluble glucans isolated from ASvicR presented much lower molecular weights. Furthermore, direct evidence showed that total RNAs were disrupted by rnc-encoded RNase III. With the coexpression of T4 RNA ligase, putative msRNA1657, which is an rnc-related messenger RNA, was verified to bind to the 5'-UTR regions of the vicR gene. Furthermore, ASvicR regulation revealed a sponge regulatory-mediated network for msRNA associated with adjacent RNase III-encoding genes. There was an increase in ASvicR transcript levels in clinical S. mutans strains from caries-free children, while the expression of ASvicR was decreased in early childhood caries patients; this outcome may be explored as a potential strategy contributing to the management of dental caries. Taken together, our findings suggest an important role of ASvicR-mediated sponge regulation in S. mutans, indicating the characterization of lactose metabolism by a vital response regulator in cariogenicity. These findings have a number of implications and have reshaped our understanding of bacterial gene regulation from its transcriptional conception to the key roles of regulatory RNAs. | 10.1177/0022034519890570 |
pubmed_1123_1447 | OBJECTIVE
To observe the effects of short-term exposure to opioid analgesics on human sperm motility.
METHODS
Twenty normal semen samples were collected, each divided into 19 groups, one as the control and the others treated in vitro with six opioid analgesics at three different concentrations, respectively, and sperm motility was assessed by computer-assisted sperm analysis at 15 min, 2 h and 4 h.
RESULTS
Compared with the control group, fentanyl, alfentanil and sufentanil at 1 x 10(-5), 2 x 10(-3) and 0.05 mg/ml significantly decreased the percentage of grade a + b sperm at 15 min, 2 h and 4 h (P<0.05), and so did butorphanol at 2 x 10(-3) and 0.05 mg/ml (P<0.05) and dezocine at 0.05 and 0.5 mg/ml (P<0.05), but neither showed any remarkable effect at 1 x 10(-5) mg/ml at the three time points (P>0.05). Pentazocine effected no significant difference at 3 x 10(-5) and 0. 05 mg/ml (P>0.05) but a gradual increase in the percentage of grade a + b sperm at 0.5 mg/ml at the three time points (P<0.05). Butorphanol totally inhibited sperm motility at 0.05 mg/ml at 15 min and at 2 x 10(-3) mg/ml at 2 h, and so did dezocine at 0.05 and 0.5 mg/ml, but such inhibitory effect was not observed with fentanil, alfentanil and sulfentanil at 0.05 mg/ml. As for the sperm motility decreasing effect at 0.05 mg/ml at 15 min, sufentanil, butorphanol and dezocine exhibited significant differences (P<0.05) while fentanyl displayed none from alfentanil (P>0.05).
CONCLUSION
Given the same length of time of treatment, butorphanol and dezocine totally inhibit sperm motility at a high concentration, but make no significant change at a low concentration. While fentanyl, alfentanil and sufentanil can significantly decrease sperm motility at the same low concentration, and partially inhibit it at all concentrations. On the contrary, a high concentration of pentazocine can promote human sperm motility. | pubmed_1123_1447 |
pubmed_788_17228 | A non-ambulatory dog with tetraparesis following a pain episode that had evolved over 2 months was submitted for medical treatment and diagnosed with intervertebral disk disease at C3-C4 and dorsal extradural compression at C1-C2 and C3-C4 using myelography and computed tomography. The dog experienced ambulation recovery after 15 days of treatment with only electroacupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, with marked improvement occurring after only 10 treatments. Six months of followup demonstrated that the dog was stable and had no recurrence of symptoms. Therefore, it was concluded that the combination of electroacupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine was responsible for motor rehabilitation. | 10.4142/jvs.2007.8.1.95 |
pubmed_909_21217 | We compared the kinetics and magnitude of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-naive and chronically HCV-infected chimpanzees in whose livers type I interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) expression is strongly induced. HBV infection was delayed and attenuated in the HCV-infected animals, and the number of HBV-infected hepatocytes was drastically reduced. These results suggest that establishment of HBV infection and its replication space is limited by the antiviral effects of type I interferon in the chronically HCV-infected liver. | 10.1128/JVI.03553-13 |
pubmed_600_20390 | Primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer and is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Tumor suppressor gene silencing through DNA methylation contributes to cancer formation. The ten-eleven translocations (TET) family of α-ketogluta-rate-dependent dioxygenases catalyzes the sequential oxidation of 5-methylcytosine to 5-hydroxymethyl-cytosine, 5-formylcytosine and 5-carboxylcytosine, leading to eventual DNA demethylation. MicroRNAs are an abundant class of 17-25 nucleotides small noncoding RNAs, identified as important regulators of many diverse biological processes. In this study, we showed that TET1 expression was obviously reduced in the majority of examined HCC tissues. And we further investigated the expression and functional involvement of TET1 in proliferation, migration and invasion and determined that TET1 may function as a tumor suppressor. miR-29b was proved to inhibit metastasis through the targeting of TET1, indicating that downregulation of miR-29 may involve in HCC carcinogenesis and progression through potentiation of TET1 expression. Thus, we elucidated the roles of feedback of miR-29-TET1 downregulation in HCC development and suggested a potential target in identification of the prognosis and application of cancer therapy for HCC patients. | 10.1007/s12032-014-0437-2 |
pubmed_1080_6097 | Actin filaments and their interactions with cell surface molecules have key roles in tissue cell behaviour. Axonal pathfinding during embryogenesis, an especially complex cell behaviour, is based on the migration of nerve growth cones. We have used fluorescence immunocytochemistry to examine the distribution in growth cones, their filopodia and lamellipodia of several actin-associated proteins and nerve cell adhesion molecules. The leading margins of chick dorsal root ganglion nerve growth cones and their protrusions stain strongly for f-actin, filamin, alpha-actinin, myosin, tropomyosin, talin and vinculin. MAP2 is absent from DRG growth cones, and staining for spectrin fodrin extends into growth cones, but not along filopodia. Thus, organization of the leading margins of growth cones may strongly resemble the leading lamella of migrating fibroblasts. The adhesion-mediating molecules integrin, L1, N-CAM and A-CAM are all found on DRG neurites and growth cones. However, filopodia stain relatively more strongly for integrin and L1 than for A-CAM or N-CAM. In fact, the 180 X 10(3) Mr form of N-CAM may be absent from most of the length of filopodia. DRG neurones cultured in cytochalasin B display differences in immunofluorescence staining which further emphasize that these adhesion molecules interact differentially with the actin filament system of migrating growth cones. Several models for neuronal morphogenesis emphasize the importance of regulation of the expression of adhesion molecules. Our results support hypotheses that cellular distribution and transmembrane interactions are key elements in the functions of these adhesion molecules during axonal pathfinding. | 10.1242/dev.105.3.505 |
pubmed_699_1346 | Although knowledge of biological pathways is essential for interpreting results from computational biology studies, the growing number of pathway databases complicates efforts to efficiently perform pathway analysis due to high redundancies among pathways from different databases, and inconsistencies in how pathways are created and named. We introduce the PAthway Communities (PAC) framework, which reconciles pathways from different databases and reduces pathway redundancy by revealing informative groups with distinct biological functions. Uniquely applying the Louvain community detection algorithm to a network of 4847 pathways from KEGG, REACTOME and Gene Ontology databases, we identify 35 distinct and automatically annotated communities of pathways and show that they are consistent with expert-curated pathway categories. Further, we demonstrate that our pathway community network can be queried with new gene sets to provide biological context in terms of related pathways and communities. Our approach, combined with an interpretable web tool we provide, will help computational biologists more efficiently contextualize and interpret their biological findings. | 10.1093/nargab/lqac044 |
pubmed_163_21292 | The health system in northern Iraq has been weakened by conflict and the internal displacement of over three million people. Mobile phone-based interventions (mHealth) may improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes by enabling emergency referrals, facilitating communication between patients and providers, and improving patient data management; however, they have not been sufficiently studied in conflict-affected settings. We explored stakeholders' perspectives on challenges to obstetric referrals and the feasibility and acceptability of a mobile phone-based application to reduce delays in reaching emergency obstetric care in order to inform its development. We conducted a qualitative study in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq from May to July, 2018. Using purposive sampling, we carried out 15 semi-structured interviews with coordination actors including healthcare management staff, government health officials, non-government health program managers and ambulance staff. The interviews explored obstetric care delivery, referral processes, mobile phone usage and mHealth implementation strategies. Eleven focus group discussions, which incorporated participatory activities on similar topics, were conducted with ambulance drivers, hospital and primary health center staff. Audio-recorded, transcribed and translated data were coded iteratively to identify emerging concepts, and analyzed thematically. Sixty-eight stakeholders (36 women and 32 men) participated. Challenges regarding the referral system included resource limitations, security concerns, costs and women's reluctance to be transported in male-staffed ambulances. In terms of obstetric care and decision-making, participants noted gaps in communication and coordination of services with the current paper-based system between health care providers, ambulance drivers, and hospital staff. Ambulance drivers reported incurring delays through lack of patient information, poor road conditions, and security issues. A prototype mobile phone application was found to be acceptable based on perceived usefulness to address some of the challenges to safe obstetric care and focused on phone usage, access to information, Global Positioning System (GPS), connectivity, cost, and user-friendliness. However, the feasibility of the innovation was considered in relation to implementation challenges that were identified, including poor connectivity, and digital literacy. Implementation of the app would need to account for the humanitarian context, cultural and gender norms regarding obstetric care, and would require substantial commitment and engagement from policymakers and practitioners. | 10.3389/fgwh.2021.662256 |
pubmed_917_6129 | Twelve cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) resulting from recreational off-road vehicle (ORV) accidents seen during a three-year period at a spinal cord injury center were analyzed using structured interviews and record reviews. Seven accidents involved three-wheel all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), one involved a four-wheel ATV, and four involved two-wheel trailbikes. The analysis of accident victim characteristics showed that all age groups are at risk, and that most victims were young adult men vehicle drivers with experience and wearing helmets. Spinal injury levels were cervical, three; thoracic, three; and thoracolumbar, six. Categorized accident hazard patterns were loss of control, six; tipover, four; and hidden obstacle, two. Contributing causative factors to the accident occurrence were poor driver judgment, seven, and vehicle instability, eight. Speeding was the most frequent primary cause of ORV accidents. We discuss vehicle and driver performance characteristics as they relate to risk of accident occurrence. The frequency of ORV accidents as an etiology of traumatic SCI at our center was 8%, compared to 8% for diving accidents and 11% for motorcycle accidents. We recommend, in view of the high risk of severe injury, widespread public education about ORV accident prevention. | 10.1016/s0196-0644(88)80499-2 |
pubmed_336_12675 | Forskolin, a complex labdane diterpenoid found in the root of Coleus forskohlii (Lamiaceae), has received attention for its broad range of pharmacological activities, yet the biosynthesis has not been elucidated. We detected forskolin in the root cork of C. forskohlii in a specialized cell type containing characteristic structures with histochemical properties consistent with oil bodies. Organelle purification and chemical analysis confirmed the localization of forskolin and of its simplest diterpene precursor backbone, (13R) manoyl oxide, to the oil bodies. The labdane diterpene backbone is typically synthesized by two successive reactions catalyzed by two distinct classes of diterpene synthases. We have recently described the identification of a small gene family of diterpene synthase candidates (CfTPSs) in C. forskohlii. Here, we report the functional characterization of four CfTPSs using in vitro and in planta assays. CfTPS2, which synthesizes the intermediate copal-8-ol diphosphate, in combination with CfTPS3 resulted in the stereospecific formation of (13R) manoyl oxide, while the combination of CfTPS1 and CfTPS3 or CfTPS4 led to formation of miltiradiene, precursor of abietane diterpenoids in C. forskohlii. Expression profiling and phylogenetic analysis of the CfTPS family further support the functional diversification and distinct roles of the individual diterpene synthases and the involvement of CfTPS1 to CfTPS4 in specialized metabolism and of CfTPS14 and CfTPS15 in general metabolism. Our findings pave the way toward the discovery of the remaining components of the pathway to forskolin, likely localized in this specialized cell type, and support a role of oil bodies as storage organelles for lipophilic bioactive metabolites. | 10.1104/pp.113.228429 |
pubmed_957_13189 | Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a life-threatening pathological condition that causes respiratory failure and often presents as pulmonary fibrosis. Although it is treated using immunosuppressive and antifibrotic agents, the beneficial effects of these agents remain limited. Thus, the development of new therapeutic strategies for lung fibrosis is crucial. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have multilineage differentiation potential; additionally, they have anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic effects as well as the ability to modulate the immune response and modify the microenvironment at the site of engraftment. Numerous adipose-derived MSCs (ASCs) are present in the adipose tissue. Heparin and low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) mediate the secretion of several cytokines and growth factors with cell migratory and antifibrotic effects. This study aimed to confirm the therapeutic effect of LMWH-activated ASCs on ILD. Mouse ASCs (mASCs) were cultured in an LMWH-supplemented medium. LMWH significantly increased the number of mASC and enhanced their migratory, anti-inflammatory, and antifibrotic effects. Furthermore, mice with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis were intravenously administered LMWH-activated mASCs. The relative mRNA expression of inflammation-related genes in ILD lungs was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the pathological model group. Our findings suggest that LMWH-activated mASC administration reduces lung fibrosis. | 10.1016/j.bbrc.2022.08.096 |
pubmed_235_6876 | Including an active participation of stakeholders along the transportation decision-making process is increasingly recognized as a necessary condition for reaching successful and high-quality decisions. This paper presents a framework for deciding on the appropriate transportation strategy for a supply chain from a multistakeholder perspective. It consists of three steps: (1) defining the transportation-strategy decision-making context and the objectives that must be achieved; (2) analyzing the actual transportation strategy regarding its three components: transportation network; transportation mode; and transportation insource/outsource, as well as identifying the stakeholders interested in the study; and (3) conducting a group decision making regarding each transportation strategy's component, while involving the key stakeholders and taking into account the specificities of transported products. The proposed framework is then applied to a real case of the Moroccan public pharmaceutical supply chain, which has different features that distinguish it from other supply chains including its importance, urgency, and regulation. We employed the DELPHI method to determine the key stakeholders that should be involved in the decisional process. After that, we applied the group AHP method for selecting the appropriate transport-network design option while involving the identified key stakeholders. | 10.3390/ijerph18042096 |
pubmed_1004_10553 | The present investigation was aimed at assessing the effect of home-based training on cardiorespiratory responses in children surgically corrected for congenital heart impairment using dyspnea threshold (DT) as training intensity. A group of 23 children aged 15 +/- 1.4 years who had undergone surgical correction for congenital heart disease (CHD group) and 12 healthy children used as a control group performed an exercise protocol during which aerobic capacity, ventilatory threshold (VT), and DT were assessed. Afterwards, the CHD group was divided into two subgroups: trained and untrained subjects. Training sessions over a period of 2 months were performed at an intensity corresponding to DT by the CHD trained group. Dyspnea was scored according to a visual analog scale during the warm up, at each exercise stage, and during the recovery period. DT was located on the oxygen uptake/dyspnea curve when a sudden increase in the dyspnea score occured, while VT was defined according to the methodology previously employed by Beaver and colleagues. The results showed that children who had undergone surgery for CHD had reduced aerobic capacity. No significant difference was observed between VT and DT in children corrected for CHD. These two thresholds were highly related. Home-based training at DT did not strongly improve aerobic capacity nor did it influence the relationship between VT and DT. Further studies should be conducted to confirm these preliminary findings, particularly when aerobic capacity is improved by training. | 10.1111/j.1747-0803.2008.00191.x |
pubmed_749_20944 | PURPOSE
We determined the ability of urine culture to predict stent culture status and associated infectious pathogens, and evaluated the association between stent culture and post-ureteroscopy sepsis.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We queried the prospectively collected database at our institution and identified all patients who underwent ureteroscopy between October 2010 and August 2016 who had a ureteral stent before the operation and from whom urine and stent cultures were obtained. The study end point was post-ureteroscopy sepsis within 48 hours of the procedure. We compared urine and stent culture findings, and performed univariate and multivariate analyses to identify predictors of post-ureteroscopy sepsis.
RESULTS
The study group comprised 509 patients with a median age of 56 years, of whom 147 (28.9%) were female. Positive urine cultures were found in 91 patients (17.8%) and positive stent cultures were found in 104 (20.4%). Urine and stent cultures were positive in 48 patients (9.4%), of whom only 24 had identical bacteria in both cultures. The most common pathogens isolated from urine and stent cultures were Escherichia coli in 38.5% and Enterococcus in 18.4%. Sepsis developed in 25 patients (4.9%), including 21 (84%) with a positive stent culture and 14 (59%) with a positive urine culture. On multivariate analysis female gender and positive stent culture were significantly associated with post-ureteroscopy sepsis.
CONCLUSIONS
Only half of the patients with ureteral stents prior to ureteroscopy, and positive stent and urine cultures had similar pathogens in both cultures. Female gender and positive stent culture were associated with a higher risk of post-ureteroscopy sepsis in this population. Stent culture may direct the proper antibiotic treatment in patients with sepsis after ureteroscopy. | 10.1016/j.juro.2017.01.064 |
pubmed_1072_16665 | Children created through mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRTs) are commonly presented as possessing 50% of their mother's nuclear DNA, 50% of their father's nuclear DNA and the mitochondrial DNA of an egg donor. This lab-engineered genetic composition has prompted two questions: Do children who are the product of an MRT procedure have three genetic parents? And, do MRT egg donors have parental responsibilities for the children created? In this paper, I address the second question and in doing so I also address the first one. First, I present a brief account of mitochondrial diseases and MRTs. Second, I examine how MRTs affect the numerical identity of eggs and zygotes. Third, I investigate two genetic accounts of parenthood and MRT egg donation. Fourth, I explore three causal accounts of parenthood and MRT egg donation. My conclusion is that, under the appropriate circumstances, MRT egg donors are parentally responsible for the children created under genetic accounts of parenthood and under causal accounts of parenthood. | 10.1136/medethics-2017-104400 |
pubmed_617_24338 | BACKGROUND
Craving or the "urge to consume" is a characteristic of bulimic eating disorders and addictions. Dysfunction of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is associated with craving. We investigated whether stimulation of the DLPFC reduces food craving in people with a bulimic-type eating disorder.
METHODS
Thirty-eight people with bulimic-type eating disorders were randomly allocated to receive one session of real or sham high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the left DLPFC in a double-blind procedure. Outcome measures included self-reported food craving immediately after the stimulation session and frequency of bingeing over a 24-hour follow-up period.
RESULTS
Compared with sham control, real rTMS was associated with decreased self-reported urge to eat and fewer binge-eating episodes over the 24 hours following stimulation.
CONCLUSIONS
High-frequency rTMS of the left DLPFC lowers cue-induced food cravings in people with a bulimic eating disorder and may reduce binge eating. These results provide a rationale for exploring rTMS as a treatment for bulimic eating disorders. | 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.11.023 |
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