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6,806 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the ability of the immune system to keep tolerance to commensals while remaining capable of responding to injury or infection with pathogenic microorganisms is essential for tissue homeostasis .
any disturbances in this balance either by genetic , environmental , or infectious causes can lead to chronic inflammatory and/or autoimmune diseases .
the mucosal immune system should sense pathogens versus innocuous dietary antigens or commensal microorganisms . while a strong and protective response is required to eliminate pathogens , tolerance is essential for harmless antigens or nutrients , thus avoiding inflammatory responses . during oral tolerance
systemic immune effector function including delayed type hypersensitivity response and ige antibody production are affected [ 1 , 2 ] . furthermore , intestine - resident effector cells also undergo tolerance .
impairment of oral tolerance seems to be associated with coeliac disease , characterized by an aberrant th1-mediated dth triggered by dietary gluten [ 1 , 3 ] .
similarly , ige - mediated food allergies can be derived from the break of tolerance to food antigens [ 1 , 4 ] . along the same lines ,
break of tolerance at the large intestine is thought to trigger hyperreactivity to commensal bacteria resulting in inflammatory bowel diseases , including crohn 's disease .
interestingly , tolerance to commensal flora does not exert a systemic effect [ 6 , 7 ] .
moreover , iga production is maintained , thus supporting commensalism , because of the noninflammatory properties of iga [ 8 , 9 ] .
it is well accepted that clonal deletion and/or t cell anergy are components of the mechanism of action of oral tolerance , however induction of regulatory t cells ( treg 's ) has become widely known as its central component .
the induction of foxp3 + treg cells requires cd103 + dendritic cells ( dcs ) .
herein , we will review the development / differentiation of mucosal resident dc subsets and their relative contribution to tolerance and immunity .
intestinal dcs are... | dendritic cells present in the digestive tract are constantly exposed to environmental antigens , commensal flora , and invading pathogens . under steady - state conditions ,
these cells have high tolerogenic potential , triggering differentiation of regulatory t cells to protect the host from unwanted proinflammatory immune responses to innocuous antigens or commensals . on the other hand
, these cells must discriminate between commensal flora and invading pathogens and mount powerful immune response against pathogens .
a potential result of unbalanced tolerogenic versus proinflammatory responses mediated by dendritic cells is associated with chronic inflammatory conditions , such as crohn 's disease , ulcerative colitis , food allergies , and celiac disease
. herein , we review the dendritic cell population involved in mediating tolerance and immunity in mucosal surfaces , the progress in unveiling their development in vivo , and factors that can influence their functions . |
6,807 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: they have multifactorial etiologies , mainly related to genetic and environmental factors . a growing body of evidence exists about the early life origins of chronic diseases , and the tracking of cvd risk factors from childhood into adulthood .
it is well - documented that high concentration of total cholesterol ( tc ) and low - density lipoprotein cholesterol ( ldl - c ) as well as low concentration of high - density lipoprotein cholesterol ( hdl - c ) are important risk factors of cvd in adults .
the accumulating number of studies confirmed the tracking of cvd risk factors including dyslipidemia from childhood to adulthood .
they showed that about 50% of children and adolescents with dyslipidemia will continue to have this disorder as adult .
tc levels increase from birth , stabilize at about 2 years of age , reach a peak before puberty , and then turn down slightly during adolescence .
normal values for lipids in the pediatric age group are actually defined according to the population distributions of lipid levels from the lipid research clinics ( lrc ) prevalence study , which was conducted in the 1970s .
dyslipidemia is commonly defined as tc higher than 200 mg / dl and ldl - c higher than 130 mg / dl ; these values correspond to the 95 percentile of the lrc study .
timely identification of children with dyslipidemia is important for considering early interventions to prevent or postpone the development of atherosclerosis . to reduce the burden of cvd , there are two approaches for screening dyslipidemia in children and adolescents . one of these approaches is presented by the american academy of pediatrics ( aap ) , and recommends that individuals aged 2 years and older should be screened for high cholesterol if they have a family history ( fh ) of premature cvd ( 55 years of age ) or a parent with history of hypercholesterolemia ( 240 mg / dl [ 6.2 mmol / l ] or higher ) or existence of other cvd risk factors in a child or adolescent .
controversial results have been reported in this respect . in the... | background : different viewpoints exist about lipid screening in all children or only in children with positive family history ( fh ) of premature cardiovascular diseases ( cvds ) or hypercholesterolemia .
this systematic review and meta - analysis aim to assess the effectiveness of lipid screening in children and adolescents according to the existence of positive fh of cvd risk factors.materials and methods : pubmed , scopus , and google scholar were searched to identify relevant papers that were published from november 1980 until 30 november 2013 .
irrelevant studies were set aside after studying their title , abstract , and full text .
then , the relevant studies were assessed by using a quality appraisal checklist .
we used random effect model for meta - analysis and calculating the total estimation of sensitivity , specificity , and the positive predictive value ( ppv ) of fh in predicting dyslipidemia among children and adolescents.results:overall , 17,214 studies were identified in the primary search , out of which 19 primary studies were qualified for study entry . the sensitivity of positive fh of premature cvd or dyslipidemia for predicting dyslipidemia among children varied between 15 and 93 .
moreover , the effectiveness of screening children for dyslipidemia according to premature cvd or dyslipidemia in their relatives was low in 86.9% of the primary studies .
the total estimation of sensitivity , specificity , and predictive value was 42.6 , 59 , and 20.7 , respectively , according to the meta - analysis results.conclusion:the present meta - analysis indicated that selecting target population for screening children and adolescents for dyslipidemia according to their fh has low sensitivity . |
6,808 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the one of the principal reforms of health system in federation of bosnia and herzegovina ( fbih ) is focused on strengthening of primary health care and rationalization of hospital care ( 1 ) . in spite of numerous criteria on how to differ rural or urban areas ,
studies worldwide refer to differences in health , as well as health care resources in rural areas in comparison to urban ones ( 2 ) .
rural uninsured rates are higher than urban ( 3 ) and the uninsured often have difficulty obtaining needed care ( 4 ) .
the factors with the clearest relationship to satisfaction with health care system include the accessibility of medical care , the organizational structure of clinics , treatment length , perceived competence of physicians , clarity and retention of physicians ' communication to patients , physicians affiliative behavior , physicians control and patients expectations ( 5 ) .
counties has higher likelihood to yield poor health outcomes in accordance to measurements being encompassed within the county health rankings ' indexed domains of health quality .
there is strong evidence that rural population has a higher percentage of acute and chronic conditions treated within hospital facilities , but could have been prevented within primary health care ( 2 ) .
there are no reliable data dealing with the rural urban differences within health care system in fbih , and we aimed our study to determine the rural - urban differences in primary care practice , hospital inpatient care and total services in one canton in fbih .
a cross - sectional study was conducted and included all 12 municipalities of zenica - doboj canton .
out of total number ( n=1 995 ) , 47.9% was urban population and median of age was 42 years for both populations .
the study included patients with recent experience in general practice , aged 18 years or older .
individual interviews were conducted in one randomly selected day of the week , except monday and friday .
the questionnaire was made on the basis of europep standardized... | aim : to determine the rural urban differences in primary care practice , hospital inpatient care and total services.methods:this cross - sectional study used data from zenica - doboj canton in federation of bosnia and herzegovina ( fbih ) .
the overall sample size for the study was 1,995 .
individual interviews were conducted in one randomly selected day of the week , except monday and friday , on the basis of europep ( european task force on patient evaluations of general practice care ) standardized questionnaire.results:out of total number ( n=1 995 ) , 47.9% was urban population and median of age was 42 years for both populations . the most of urban residents ( 81.4% ) had finished high school or higher education compared with rural residents ( 58.5% ) ( p < 0.001 ) .
there are significant differences in employment status between rural and urban population ( p < 0.001 ) .
rural residents are more likely to travel more than 15 minutes to see their health facilities compared with urban residents ( 61.7% vs. 24.4% , respectively ) .
median of distance ( kilometers ) from residence location to the nearest hospital was statistically significantly higher in rural me = 8.0 ( 5.0 do 14.5 ) km compared to urban population me = 1.5 ( 1.0 to 3.0 ) km ( p < 0.001 ) . the rural population was more likely to buy drugs for medical treatment ( p < 0.001 ) and parenteral injections in primary care practice ( p < 0.001).conclusion : there are significant differences in the overall health care assessment of rural populations as compared to urban populations . |
6,809 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: adolescents are perhaps the most important group in a society , and given their size and characteristics , majority are exposed early to unplanned and unprotected sexual intercourse leading to unwanted pregnancy and sometimes unsafe abortions . vast majority of these young individuals are going through their reproductive years with very little access to sexual and reproductive health information and services .
consequently , unintended pregnancy becomes a major challenge to the reproductive health of young adults in developing countries .
the increase in sexual activity , early pregnancy , and induced abortions among adolescents and have become major concerns in sub - saharan africa and understanding adolescent sexual behavior remains a challenge in the region .
the consequences of unprotected sex , such as unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion , can be prevented by access to contraceptive services including emergency contraception . given the high prevalence of adolescent pregnancy , developing interventions aimed at reducing unintended adolescent pregnancy has the potential to have a major impact on public health and one avenue for prevention of unwanted pregnancy is the emergency contraceptive pills .
emergency contraceptive pills are hormonal oral contraceptive pills that a woman can take within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse to reduce her risk of becoming pregnant .
although emergency contraceptive pill is not recommended as a regular family planning method , it is a useful method after unprotected sexual intercourse to reduce the chance of unwanted pregnancies .
emergency contraception is most useful when there is a failure of barrier methods such as slippage and breakage of condoms or when sexual intercourse was unpredicted .
furthermore , parker reported that many adolescent females are at high risk of unintended pregnancy because they have limited knowledge of contraception and generally lack access to services or do not feel comfortable using these services .
parker added that in general... | background and objective : risky sexual activity among adolescents is on the increase and contraceptive prevalence rate is low which is evidenced by high rate of teenage pregnancy in bayelsa state , nigeria .
this study assesses the adolescents knowledge , attitude and utilization of emergency contraceptive pills ( ecp ) in amassoma community , bayelsa state , in the niger delta region of nigeria.methods:the study was a descriptive cross - sectional research design .
a purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 220 respondents from the target population .
data were collected using a self - structured questionnaire .
descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data generated.results:majority of the respondents had high level of knowledge and positive attitude towards emergency contraceptive pills but had low level of utilization .
concerns about what others may say , parental attitude , contraceptive availability , contraceptive accessibility , and peer influences were the major factors that influenced the utilization of contraceptive pills .
there was no significant relationship between knowledge and utilization of emergency contraceptive pills , as well as level of knowledge and their utilization of emergency contraceptive pills.conclusions and global health implications : adolescents in the study were more likely to use emergency contraceptive pills , if parents and others reaction to adolescents contraceptive use were positive about those .
health care professionals , especially nurses , should organize enlightenment programs to educate adolescents , parents and the public on the benefits of adolescents contraceptives use , especially ecp . |
6,810 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: a 17-year - old boy sustained blunt trauma from a tennis ball to his left eye , 5 h before examination . only hand movements were perceivable and projection of light rays was accurate .
clinically , a full - thickness mh , sized 415 m , with coexistent macular detachment of height 458 m on optical coherence tomography ( oct ) examination ( stratus oct , carl zeiss meditec inc . ,
usa ) , was detected along with commotio retinae and widespread subretinal hemorrhages of the posterior pole and inferior retina [ fig .
examination by microperimetry ( mp-1 , nidek technologies srl , italy ) demonstrated reduced sensitivity of the macula to high - intensity light stimuli [ fig .
surgical intervention was contemplated . however , follow - up examination 3 days later surprisingly revealed that the mh had reduced in size to 218 m .
careful serial follow - up found complete closure of the mh and near complete resolution of the macular detachment 7 days after presentation [ fig . 2a and b ] .
three weeks posttrauma , the chorioretinal scarring and pigmentary changes at the macula were very prominent [ fig .
2d ] . significant atrophy and thinning of all the retinal layers was evident on oct examination ; the foveal thickness was 82 m [ fig .
large atrophic holes were noticed at this time in the inferior retina and were delimited by laser photocoagulation [ fig .
microperimetry , done with four - cross target because of poor fixation , reveals loss of perceived stimuli at the macula ( c ) .
the macular hole is smaller and the detachment shallower after 3 days ( d and e ) .
microperimetry shows absolute scotoma ( f ) seven days later , the macular hole is closed and the subretinal fluid nearly completely absorbed ( a and b ) .
three weeks later , the chorioretinal scarring is very prominent ( d and e ) .
two considerations relevant to the management of the present subject are , first , the mechanisms involved in the formation and closure of the traumatic mh and detachment , and second , whether a waiting period is... | the association of macular detachment with posttraumatic macular hole is a known but rare occurrence . spontaneously occurring resolution of the detachment and closure of the macular hole
has been reported only once in the literature .
we describe a similar rare event in a young male , the documentation of which was done serially by microperimetry ( mp ) and optical coherence tomography ( oct ) . a 17-year - old male presented with a decrease in vision following a closed globe injury to the left eye .
a coexisting macular hole and macular detachment were detected in the affected eye .
serial follow - up with oct and mp documented complete resolution of the macular hole and the macular detachment within 1 week of presentation .
the case highlights that spontaneous resolution of traumatic macular hole and related macular detachment may occur and a waiting period is advisable before undertaking any corrective surgical procedure .
the pathophysiologic mechanisms of causation and the resolution of posttraumatic macular hole - related retinal detachment are discussed . |
6,811 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: traumatic brain injury ( tbi ) accounts for more than one million admissions to emergency centers leading to more than 50,000 deaths as well as millions disabilities annually in the world .
both genders and different age subgroups can be affected by this problem with different mechanisms .
due to the necessity for proper management of these injuries , understanding pathophysiology , mechanisms , and also recent diagnostic and therapeutic modalities is certainly critical .
pathophysiologically , tbis can be classified as the primary with direct damaging the cerebrovascular tissues leading to direct neuronal injuries or the secondary to cerebral responses to other baseline pathological conditions such as cerebral edema , infections , hemorrhages , cerebral hypoxia , or increased intracranial pressure .
eventually , both types of injuries may result in ischemic or hemorrhagic cerebral events or neuronal death .
along with pathophysiological changes following brain injury , some changes have been also identified in molecular basis .
both primary and secondary mechanisms of injuries commonly generate reactive oxygen species ( ros ) that mediate oxidative stress leading to neural dysfunction and even neuronal death . in this regard ,
the excessive expression and production of ros following exhaustion of the endogenous antioxidant system can induce cellular and vascular peroxidation , dna cleavage , and inhibition of the mitochondrial electron transport chain in background of brain injuries .
in other words , because balanced production of ros is essential for brain enzymes activities and cell signaling , the imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants and thus excessive production of ros may be disrupted following injuries . thus , defense mechanisms based on controlling ros production and creating balance between oxidants and antioxidants are the main aim for controlling the cellular consequences resulting from brain trauma injuries .
it has been revealed that selenium dependent to glutathione ( gsh ) has a... | aim : the present study was carried out to examine this hypothesis that administration of selenium can prevent the development of injuries by brain trauma and thus can modulate patients functional recovery and also improve posttraumatic outcome.materials and methods : this double - blinded controlled trial was carried out on 113 patients who were hospitalized following traumatic brain injury ( tbi ) with glasgow coma scale score of 412 that were randomly assigned to receive selenium within 8 h after injury plus standard treatment group or routine standard treatment alone as the control .
the primary endpoint was to assess patients functional recovery at 2 months after the injury based on extended glasgow outcome scale score ( gos - e ) .
secondary outcomes included the changes in full outline of unresponsiveness score ( four ) score , sequential organ failure assessment ( sofa ) score , and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation ( apache ) iii score , side effects of selenium , length of intensive care unit ( icu ) stay , and length of hospital stay.results:there was no difference in the length of icu and hospital stay , the trend of the change in four and sofa scores within 15 days of first interventions , and the mean apache iii score on the 1st and 15th days between the two groups .
mortality was 15.8% in selenium group and 19.6% in control group with no between - group difference .
no difference was revealed between the two groups in appropriate outcome according to gos - e score at 60 10 days and also 30 5 days according to the severity of tbi.conclusion:this human trial study could not demonstrate beneficial effects of intravenous infusion of selenium in the improvement of outcomes in patients with acute tbi . |
6,812 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: in the past decade , geographic information systems ( gis ) have become an innovative and somewhat crucial tool for analysing relationships between public health data and environment . according to longley et al .
( 2005 ) , a gis is an application - led technology , which can be used , in this instance , for monitoring and understanding observed spatial distribution of attributes such as the geography of environmental health .
thus , it is required to transpose data stored in a health care related database to a spatial related database , assigning to each record a univocal spatial location ( x , y coordinates ) .
its role continues to grow and evolve as new forms of geocoding emerge and as geocoded data are applied to an ever - diverse set of spatially based investigations .
geocoding technology has been applied in many fields : social , political , and economic and more recently in public health research and practice . in general , these applications are related to interpolation rather than matching .
the literature provides many examples focused on the surveillance of infectious and chronic diseases [ 3 - 5 ] , environmental exposures [ 6 , 7 ] , drinking water epidemiology [ 8 , 9 ] and pharmacoepidemiology . in general
, the limitation is the spatial accuracy of the geographic location computed for any particular subject .
accuracy represents an important issue particularly in italy due to the complexity of the address name and street morphology .
address complexity and street morphology depend on historical heritage of italy , so georeferencing requires additional manipulation of place names data . in this scenario , the improvement of geocoding accuracy plays a key role in developing a reliable tool for public health research in italy .
the main aim of this paper is to describe the procedures involved in the conversion from database collected data into geocoded dots representing a health event , in order to display the spatial distribution of five major chronic - degenerative diseases within the rovigo... | summaryintroduction.geographic information systems ( gis ) have become an innovative and somewhat crucial tool for analyzing relationships between public health data and environment .
this study , though focusing on a local health unit of northeastern italy , could be taken as a benchmark for developing a standardized national data - acquiring format , providing a step - by - step instructions on the manipulation of address elements specific for italian language and traditions.methods.geocoding analysis was carried out on a health database comprising 268,517 records of the local health unit of rovigo in the veneto region , covering a period of 10 years , starting from 2001 up to 2010 . the map service provided by the environmental research system institute ( esri , redlands , ca ) , and
arcmap 10.0 by esri were , respectively , the reference data and the gis software , employed in the geocoding process.results.the first attempt of geocoding produced a poor quality result , having about 40% of the addresses matched .
a procedure of manual standardization was performed in order to enhance the quality of the results , consequently a set of guiding principle were expounded which should be pursued for geocoding health data .
high - level geocoding detail will provide a more precise geographic representation of health related events.conclusions.the main achievement of this study was to outline some of the difficulties encountered during the geocoding of health data and to put forward a set of guidelines , which could be useful to facilitate the process and enhance the quality of the results .
public health informatics represents an emerging specialty that highlights on the application of information science and technology to public health practice and research .
therefore , this study could draw the attention of the national health service to the underestimated problem of geocoding accuracy in health related data for environmental risk assessment . |
6,813 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: cryoballoon pulmonary vein isolation ( pvi ) has emerged as an alternative to radiofrequency pvi in the treatment of drugresistant atrial fibrillation ( af ) .
cryoballoon pvi , compared with radiofrequency pvi , offers potential advantages , including shorter procedure times,1 , 2 , 3 decreased hospital length of stay,1 and decreased fluoroscopy time.3 the data are limited that define the major complication rate of cryoballoon pvi .
additionally , previous literature identifies phrenic nerve injury ( pni ) as the most frequent complication of cryoballoon pvi.4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 methods including monitoring diaphragmatic electromyographic signals with compound motor action potential ( cmap)10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 and immediate balloon deflation15 have been described to help detect pni and decrease its incidence and longterm persistence .
identifying predictors of major complications and pni will assist in patient selection for this procedure .
the study population included 450 consecutive patients undergoing cryoballoon pvi for af at the university of pittsburgh medical center between august 2011 and august 2015 as part of a prospective registry .
baseline clinical characteristics and detailed medical history , including specific af history , were recorded for all patients .
all patients underwent preprocedural cardiac computed tomography to assess pulmonary venous anatomy and transesophageal echocardiography to rule out intracardiac thrombus .
the cryoballoon pvi procedure has been previously described in detail.16 , 17 , 18 in brief , all ablation procedures were performed with the patient under general anesthesia , avoiding paralytic agents after induction to allow monitoring of phrenic nerve function .
all cases were performed by using the arctic front cryoballoon ( medtronic ) via a transseptal approach . for most cases , after confirming pulmonary vein occlusion via venography , two 180 to 240second lesions were applied in each pulmonary vein and additional lesions were applied if conduction persisted... | backgroundcryoballoon pulmonary vein isolation ( pvi ) has emerged as an alternative to radiofrequency pvi for atrial fibrillation ( af ) .
data are lacking to define the rates and predictors of complications , particularly phrenic nerve injury ( pni).methods and resultswe evaluated a singlecenter prospective registry of 450 consecutive patients undergoing cryoballoon pvi between 2011 and 2015 .
patients were 5910 years old , 26% were women , 58% had hypertension , their mean cha
2
ds
2
vasc score was 1.71.3 , 30% had persistent atrial fibrillation , and 92% received a secondgeneration 28mm balloon . predefined major complications were persistent pni , pericardial effusion , deep vein thrombosis , arteriovenous fistula , atrioesophageal fistula , bleeding requiring transfusion , stroke , and death .
pni was categorized as persistent if it persisted after discharge from the laboratory .
logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of complications and specifically pni .
we identified a major complication in 10 ( 2.2% ) patients . in 49 ( 10.8% )
patients , at least transient pni was observed ; only 5 persisted beyond the procedure ( 1.1% ) .
all cases of pni resolved eventually , with the longest time to resolution being 48 days .
we also describe 2 cases of pni manifesting after the index hospitalization .
regression analysis identified 23mm balloon use ( 16.3% versus 5.2% , odds ratio 2.94 , p=0.011 ) and increased age ( 62.87.7 versus 58.70.12 years , odds ratio 1.058 , p=0.014 ) as independent significant predictors of pni .
there were no significant predictors of major complications.conclusionsin a large contemporary cohort , cryoballoon pvi is associated with low procedural risk , including lower rates of pni than previously reported . older age and 23mm balloon use
were associated with pni .
our low rate of pni may reflect more sensitive detection methods , including compound motor action potential monitoring and forced doubledeflation . |
6,814 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: trans fatty acids ( tfas ) are created from vegetable oils through hydrogenation . in the trans configuration ,
the carbon chain extends from opposite sides of the double bond , rendering a straight molecule .
elaidic acid ( ea ; c18:1 ) is the principal tfa often found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils , margarine , and shortening [ 1 , 2 ] .
young people in japan have come to prefer a western - style diet , and now more than 29% of the calories consumed by japanese people are provided by fat .
the consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease ( chd ) by raising the levels of ldl cholesterol and lowering the levels of hdl cholesterol [ 2 , 4 , 5 ] .
it has been reported that an elevated tfa blood cell content increased the risk of acute coronary syndromes ( acs ) [ 6 , 7 ] .
infants are exposed to tfa before and after birth by the transfer of fatty acids originating from the maternal diet . on average ,
mature human milk provides 3.7 g fat/100 ml , representing about 50% of the dietary energy intake of the young infant [ 10 , 11 ] .
infants receiving human milk ingest levels of tfas and essential fatty acids that reflect short - and long - term maternal diets [ 1214 ] .
recent studies have indicated that the ea content of the maternal diet may be associated with both maternal and infant body composition in the early postpartum period .
we previously reported that dietary fish oil intake during pregnancy and lactation provides more n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ( pufa ) to pups and alters their brain fatty acid composition .
however , it has been reported that prenatal essential fatty acid deficiency may result in myelin with an abnormal composition and structure , at least during the critical period of brain development .
trans - enriched isomers of -linolenic acid ( ala ) were fed to female adult rats during gestation and lactation .
the trans ala can be desaturated and elongated in vivo and thus provides trans isomers of the n-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid ( epa... | to investigate the effects of a dam 's dietary elaidic acid ( ea ) intake during pregnancy and lactation on the fatty acid composition of plasma , erythrocyte membrane , and brain in rat pups , we fed two groups of dams either a soybean oil diet ( sod ) or a shortening diet ( shd ) containing soybean oil ( 10% ) or shortening ( 10% ) , respectively . although ea was not detected in the sod , ea accounted for 25.3% of all fatty acid content in the shd . on day 8 after birth
, the ea levels in the stomach , plasma , and erythrocyte membrane of pups nursed by the dams fed the shd were 11.6 1.03% , 7.18 1.20% , and 5.82 1.00% , respectively .
although on day 8 after birth the ea level of the brains of pups nursed by shd - fed dams was 0.56 0.24% , ea was not detected on day 21 or day 82 after birth .
these results suggest that ea intake during pregnancy and lactation supplies ea to plasma , remains in the erythrocyte membrane of pups , and moves into the brain in early infancy . |
6,815 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: age - related macular degeneration ( amd ) is a leading cause of visual impairment and blindness in western countries among people aged 50 years and older .
the prevalence of amd in various european countries ( norway , estonia , united kingdom , france , italy , greece , and spain ) was 3.32% with the of geographic atrophic amd of 1.2% , neovascular amd 2.3% and bilateral amd 1.4% .
amd is also a significant health problem in the united states , with a current estimate of about 1.75 million persons with advanced amd in the general population and about 7.3 million people with early stages of amd defined by large retinal drusen .
it has been projected that by the year 2020 , approximately about 2.95 million people will have advanced amd and an additional 6.4 million white individuals will have the early stages of amd in at least one eye .
as the average life span of humans continues to increase , especially in the developed countries , the incidence of amd is expected to nearly double within the next 25 years .
the aetiology of amd remains elusive because it is a multifactorial disease in which both genetic and environmental factors have been implicated . to date ,
age , smoking , exposure to light , and diet have been successfully identified [ 4 , 5 ] .
various studies have indicated a significant genetic contribution to amd , including those reported a higher occurrence of amd among monozygotic twins and first - degree relatives than spouses and unrelated individuals .
amd was also associated with several dna single nucleotide polymorphisms ( snps ) [ 79 ] .
the retinal pigment epithelium ( rpe ) cells function in an environment that is rich in endogenous reactive oxygen species ( ros ) .
the activity of rpe cells , the high local oxygen concentration , and the chronic exposure to light contribute to the production of ros [ 1013 ] .
although multiple physiologic mechanisms protect the rpe from the toxic effects of light and oxidative damage , mounting evidence suggests that chronic exposure to oxidative... | oxidative stress is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of age - related macular degeneration ( amd ) .
we determined the extent of oxidative dna damage and the kinetics of its removal as well as the genotypes of the ser326cys polymorphism of the hogg1 gene in lymphocytes of 30 wet amd patients and 30 controls .
oxidative dna damage induced by hydrogen peroxide and its repair were evaluated by the comet assay and dna repair enzymes .
we observed a higher extent of endogenous oxidative dna damage and a lower efficacy of its repair in amd patients as compared with the controls .
we did not find any correlation between the extent of dna damage and efficacy of dna repair with genotypes of the ser326cys polymorphism .
the results obtained suggest that oxidative dna damage and inefficient dna repair can be associated with amd and the variability of the hoog1 gene may not contribute to this association . |
6,816 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: advances in biological and medical research and their translation into diagnostic , prognostic and therapeutic tools are relying increasingly on partnerships between the academic ( government and university ) and industrial ( biotechnology , pharmacy and technology ) sectors , with essential participation and support from patient organizations and charities . despite these concerted efforts and the promises of genomics and systems biology , over the past two decades
the cost of research and development has continuously escalated , while the number of truly novel drugs coming to market has constantly declined . to a large extent , this has been addressed in the private sector through mergers and outsourcing , with downsizing of the research and development workforce .
these trends can not be sustained further as they threaten the economic viability of the healthcare system worldwide . at a time of a global crisis , it is crucial to identify how we can overcome these hurdles .
i argue here that we should look again at how knowledge can be shared between all the stakeholders , redefining the frontier between what can be the subject matter of valuable intellectual property rights and what is the basic knowledge that should be made freely available to all .
it was hotly debated at the beginning of the human genome project ( hgp ) , and for its entire duration in relation to competition between the public and private sectors .
i suggested early on that the nucleic acid sequences collected on a genome scale should be considered as elements of description insufficient to warrant property rights by themselves in the absence of a genuine invention and should thus be placed in the public domain .
a similar attitude was taken by the participants of the hgp in 1996 , as expressed in the ' bermuda rules ' , with the result that the openly accessible reference human genome sequence is now the common basis for current research .
these proposals contributed to the ' universal declaration on the human genome and human rights '... | to help overcome the bottlenecks that limit the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products , academic and industrial researchers , patient organizations and charities , and regulatory and funding institutions should redefine the basis for sharing the knowledge collected in large - scale clinical and experimental studies . |
6,817 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: dilatation of pulmonary arteries is a well - known clinical entity commonly encountered in many congenital and acquired heart lesions .
idiopathic dilatation of pulmonary arteries ( idpa ) was first recognized as a benign anomaly in 1923 by wessler and jaches .
the incidence of this disease is 6 cases per 1000 cases of congenital cardiac disorders .
diagnosis of idpa is made after excluding all possible causes that can induce pulmonary artery ( pa ) dilatation .
it is usually an incidental finding not fully explained by the patient symptoms and clinical condition .
treatment is usually not required as it is considered to be a benign condition , although literature on long - term follow - up is lacking .
a 68-year - old female presented with insidious onset gradually progressive shortness of breath from mmrc stage 1 to stage 3 for the last 10 years , which further increased over the past 2 months .
she had no associated history of a cough , fever , palpitations , chest pain , pedal edema , orthopnea , or paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea . on clinical examination , her vitals included pulse rate
there was no pallor , icterus , cyanosis , pedal edema , or raised jugular venous pressure .
5600/dl with a differential count of neutrophils 72% , lymphocytes 10% , eosinophils 1% , and monocytes 7% .
serum c - reactive protein level was normal ( 0.24 mg / dl ) with elevated serum brain natriuretic peptide levels ( 162 pg / ml ) .
anti - nuclear antibodies along with anti - neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody levels and thyroid function tests were within normal limit , and there was no evidence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis or syphilis .
x - ray chest revealed mild cardiomegaly of the right ventricular ( rv ) type with mild right atrial dilatation and massive enlargement of the main pa with normal pulmonary vascular markings [ figure 1 ] .
( a ) chest x - ray showing dilated pulmonary artery , ( b ) contrast - enhanced computed tomography chest showing enlarged main pulmonary artery ( 49.75 mm ) , ( c )... | idiopathic dilatation of pulmonary arteries ( idpa ) is a rare abnormality of pulmonary arteries , the reported incidence in literature being as low as 0.007% in autopsy samples . with the improvement in diagnostic modalities ,
antemortem diagnosis of idpa has been increasingly established by excluding diseases that induce pulmonary arterial enlargement . here ,
we present a rare case of idiopathic dilatation of the pulmonary artery admitted with shortness of breath where idpa was diagnosed as an incidental finding using computed tomography pulmonary angiography and cardiac catheterization . |
6,818 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: after the tuberculosis agent was discovered by robert koch in 1882 , it was hoped that the disease would be controlled and eradicated .
unfortunately , more than a century has passed since the discovery and tb still claims lives across the world ( 1 ) .
world health organization ( who ) declared tb as urgency in 1993 and urged all nations to control the disease ( 2 ) . in the 21st century , tb poses itself as a major medical concern for all countries .
furthermore , with advances in technology , particularly in the biological molecular field and genetic engineering , new horizons have opened in different research areas ( 3 ) .
tb is a ne - crotizing chronic or acute disease caused by various strains of mycobacterium , namely , m. bovis and m. africanum , and mostly due to m. tuberculosis ( 4 ) .
tuberculosis attacks lungs and involves different body organs and tissues including lymph nodes , pleura , pericardium , kidney and bones ( 5 ) .
every 4 seconds one person contract tb and every10 se conds one dies of the disease .- given the current trend and by every decade , almost 300 million people get infected with the tb bacterium worldwide . despite the discovery of the causing agent , vaccine and highly effective medications , the disease still poses a major health challenge globally ( 6 ) .
if a person with pulmonary tb and sputum smear positive is not diagnosed and treated in time , he may infect 10 to 15 other people annually .
the best way through which one can prevent and control tb is timely diagnosis of smear positive pulmonary tb and effective treatment of the disease ( 7 ) .
so far , one third of the world s population has been infected with tb bacillus and 9 million people contract the disease annually .
75% of deaths happen among economically active groups ( 1554 ) ( 8) . in 2009 ,
tb cases have been reported in all provinces of iran , with most cases seen in sistan and balouchestan , golestan , khorasan razawi , khuzestan , hormozgan , qom , kermanshah and gilan provinces .
80% of the world... | abstractbackgroundthe present study aimed to explore some risk factors affected the mean of the number of tuberculosis ( tb ) in west azerbaijan province , iran between 2001 and 2010.methodsour time series study analyzed the data of 2,560 tb patients as registered with tb patients care system in west azerbaijan province from early 2001 to 2010 .
a checklist was prepared for collecting the data and they were then analyzed in spss v.16 software.resultsthe percentage of male and percentage of female were close to each other ( 52.2% against 47.8% , respectively ) .
a significant increasing trend of tb rate was found over the years of 2001and 2010 with a pick at 2008 ( p<0.001 ) .
a poisson log - linear analysis showed that the most important risk factor of the trend of rate was the level of education so that people with primary level or with illiterate level had a statistically significant tb rate of 5.21 ( 4.66 - 5.81 ) , adjusted for years .
the next risk factor was type of tb and place of residency , i.e. , pulmonary tb cases had higher rate than external pulmonary tb cases ( rr=1.67 ; ( 1.54 - 1.80 ) .
the last factor with the lowest risk was bcg with rr=1.29 ( 1.20 - 1.40 ) for people who received bcg compared to the people who had not received it.conclusionalthough the co morbidity of aids and tb was not a major problem , it is necessary that special attention be paid to the way of implementing the tb control program based on the demographic risk factors of the study population . |
6,819 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: subclavian route for insertion of central venous catheters ( cvcs ) is commonly employed in critically ill patients requiring long - term central venous access as it has a lower risk of infection and has better patient comfort .
misplacement of cvc tip can rarely cause erosion of the catheter through the right atrium or right ventricle , leading to haemothorax , hydrothorax or cardiac tamponade and can be fatal .
it is hence recommended to locate the tip in the superior vena cava , outside the pericardium to avoid cardiac tamponade .
there is no universally accepted standard method of estimating the depth of insertion of cvcs .
surface landmarks , various formulae , electrocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography have been used for positioning the catheter tip in adults .
cadaver studies and computerised tomography in adults have shown the carina to be above the level of pericardium .
the pericardium can not be seen on a chest x - ray that is routinely done to check the position of the catheter tip .
however , carina can be easily identified on a chest x - ray and can be used as a reference point for optimal position of cvc tip .
the clavicular notch is an oval articular surface on either side of the manubrium sternum for articulation with the sternal end of the clavicle , and can be easily identified .
the angle of louis , the prominence formed by the manubriosternal joint is at the same horizontal plane as the carina .
the present study compares the measurement of surface landmarks along the course of right scv with that of the formula method to estimate the appropriate depth of insertion for right sided subclavian cvcs .
the patients admitted to critical care units at our institution in whom subclavian cvc was deemed necessary were recruited into the study after approval from ethics committee .
patients with gross deformities of the chest ( pigeon chest , barrel chest ) were excluded from the study .
the patients were randomly assigned to one of the two groups with a computer generated random... | background and aims : subclavian central venous catheterisation ( cvc ) is employed in critically ill patients requiring long - term central venous access .
there is no gold standard for estimating their depth of insertion . in this study
, we compared the landmark topographic method with the formula technique for estimating depth of insertion of right subclavian cvcs.methods:two hundred and sixty patients admitted to intensive care unit requiring subclavian cvc were randomly assigned to either topographic method or formula method ( 130 in each group ) .
catheter tip position in relation to the carina was measured on a post - procedure chest x - ray .
the primary endpoint was the need for catheter repositioning .
mann
whitney test and chi - square test was performed for statistical analysis using spss for windows version 18.0 ( armonk , ny : ibm corp).results : nearly , half the catheters positioned by both the methods were situated > 1 cm below the carina and required repositioning.conclusion:both the techniques were not effective in estimating the approximate depth of insertion of right subclavian cvcs . |
6,820 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: missile injuries of the anterior skull base usually occur during war or warlike situations ; however , in the united states , > 100 americans die by suicide on an average day , and 50 of these suicides involve the use of firearms.1 the anterior skull base is the most common region of the skull base injured by a cranial missile .
most csf leaks can be broadly classified into traumatic ( most frequent ) , nontraumatic ( tumors ) , spontaneous , and iatrogenic.2 the clinical presentation usually is of unilateral clear rhinorrhea that can be continuous or persistent .
the patient can complain of a saltwater taste sensation ; fewer patients experience a sweet taste sensation .
also , the halo sign ( clear ring surrounding a central bloody spot on gauze ) can be present .
high - resolution computer tomography ( ct ) is a vital diagnostic and planning tool in patients with cranial and maxillofacial trauma .
ct cisternography , radionuclide cisternograms , magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) , -2 transferrin , and intrathecal fluorescein are also part of the armament used in the diagnosis of csf leaks .
the goals of surgery in patients with gunshot wounds to the head are to evacuate a hematoma , achieve hemostasis , debride the wound , provide dural closure , and repair the skull base .
we present two cases of patients with csf leak after gunshot wound to the skull base .
a 16-year - old young man with a history of a self - inflicted gunshot wound with point of entry through the mouth with a 3-cm exit wound on top of the head .
( a ) noncontrast axial computed tomography consistent with a gunshot wound with entry point at the left parasagittal midline hard plate ( white arrow ) .
( b ) fracture of the inner table of both frontal sinuses with multiple fragments within the frontal sinuses and along the interhemispheric fissure ( white arrow ) .
( c ) the trajectory coursed cranially through the left nasal cavity , left ethmoid air cells , left frontal lobe , and exited through the left frontal bone .
( d ) posterior... | objectives to describe two cases of cerebrospinal fluid ( csf ) leak repair after gunshot wound to the head .
design retrospective review of two cases .
settings a large regional tertiary care facility .
participants two patients with gunshot wounds to the skull base .
main outcome measures preoperative and postoperative physical and radiologic findings .
results patients in this series underwent endoscopic surgery , debridement , and repair of csf leaks after gunshot wounds to the head . to date , the patients are without csf leak
.
conclusions endoscopic closure of anterior skull base csf leaks in patients with gunshot wounds can be safe and effective .
treatment should be decided by the severity of neurologic deterioration throughout the emergency period and the existence or absence of associated intracranial lesions .
timing for surgery should be decided with great care and with a multidisciplinary approach . |
6,821 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the non - invasive risk assessment of life - threatening ventricular arrhythmia is of great clinical importance , especially in the prevention of sudden cardiac death ( scd ) in patients after myocardial infarction ( mi ) .
although there currently exist many noninvasive parameters quantifying the depolarization and repolarization process in time and space domains , these parameters remain the subject of intensive study .
the ecg - based parameters calculated from the 12 standard leads or 3 orthogonal leads ( e.g. , prolonged qrs interval , prolonged qt interval , large qt dispersion , microvolt t - wave alternans , total cosine of mean angle between qrs complex and t wave ) are considered as predictors of scd [ 16 ] ; nonetheless , their effectiveness is still debated [ 612 ] .
beat - to - beat analysis of subsequent cardiac cycles has recently become a very promising tool for the identification of patients at risk for ventricular tachycardia ( vt ) .
there is a large body of evidence supporting the assumption that increased qt variability , low heart rate variability , and heart rate turbulence show good diagnostic value for ventricular tachycardia ( vt ) detection [ 1316 ] .
vt risk assessment in mi patients was also studied using advanced frequency and time - frequency analysis of high resolution ecg .
it was reported that parameters obtained by using the fast fourier transform and parametric modeling method with an autoregressive model , as well as wavelet transform , have good discriminative properties [ 1720 ] .
body surface potential mapping ( bspm ) offers a possibility for more precise study of temporal and spatial distributions of cardiac electrical activity in comparison to standard 12-lead electrocardiography .
one of the most often examined parameters calculated from bspms is the area under the qrst complex , which was also used to assess repolarization heterogeneity described by non - dipolar content of qrst integral maps [ 2125 ] .
however , the qrst integral map s ability to reveal... | summarybackgroundthe effective screening of myocardial infarction ( mi ) patients threatened by ventricular tachycardia ( vt ) is an important issue in clinical practice , especially in the process of implantable cardioverter - defibrillator ( icd ) therapy recommendation .
this study proposes new parameters describing depolarization and repolarization inhomogeneity in high resolution body surface potential maps ( hr bspm ) to identify mi patients threatened by vt.material/methodshigh resolution ecgs were recorded from 64 surface leads .
time - averaged hr bspms were used .
several parameters for arrhythmia risk assessment were calculated in 2 groups of mi patients : those with and without documented vt . additionally , a control group of healthy subjects was studied . to assess the risk of vt ,
the following parameters were proposed : correlation coefficient between stt and qrst integral maps ( stt_qrst_corr ) , departure index of absolute value of stt integral map ( stt_di ) , and departure index of absolute value of t - wave shape index ( tsi_di ) .
these new parameters were compared to known parameters : qrs width , qt interval , qt dispersion , tpeak - tend interval , total cosines between qrs complex and t wave , and non - dipolar content of qrst integral maps.resultsstt_di , tsi_di , stt_qrst_corr , qrs width , and qt interval parameters were statistically significant ( p0.05 ) in arrhythmia risk assessment .
the highest sensitivity was found for the stt_di parameter ( 0.77 ) and the highest specificity for tsi_di ( 0.79).conclusionsarrhythmia risk is demonstrated by both abnormal spatial distribution of the repolarization phase and changed relationship between depolarization and repolarization phases , as well as their prolongation .
the proposed new parameters might be applied for risk stratification of cardiac arrhythmia . |
6,822 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: hyaluronic acid ( ha ) is a linear polymer of glucuronic acid and n - acetylglucosamine disaccharide .
the main function of ha includes tissue healing including activation and moderation of the inflammatory responses , promotion of cell proliferation , migration , and angiogenesis .
ha is a hygroscopic macromolecule and its solutions are highly osmotic . in the oral mucosa , this property enables to control of tissue hydration during periods of inflammatory process or response to tissue injury resulting in ulcer formation .
high - molecular - weight ha [ figure 1 ] acts as an anti - inflammatory molecule and has been shown to be beneficial in supporting gingival health .
it is the most abundant high - molecular - weight glycosaminoglycan ( gag ) in the extracellular matrix of soft periodontal tissues .
studies indicate that ha exhibits beneficial anti - inflammatory and antibacterial activity in the treatment of gingivitis and periodontitis .
topically , ha has been used as a 0.2% solution for the treatment of recurrent aphthous ulcers in clinical trials .
ha is commercially available as sodium hyaluronatein combination with polyvinylpyrrolidone ( pvp ) and glycyrrhetinic acid .
the combination was launched as gelclair sachets ( sinclair pharma , uk ltd ) in 2002 and received us food and drug administration ( us fda ) approval for management of oral mucositis associated with chemotherapy .
pvp , an important constituent of this preparation , has remarkable properties such as good chemical and biological inertness , very low toxicity , high media compatibility , and crosslinkable flexibility , which gives stability to the formulation .
topical ha 0.2% or pvp - sh gel forms a protective coating around the oral cavity to shield exposed or sensitized nerve endings from overstimulation [ figure 2 ] .
each of the ingredients in pvp - sh performs a specific role , as listed here:- topical hyaluronic acid ( ha ) forms a barrier film on exposed nerve endings
polyvinylpyrrolidone it is a hydrophilic polymer with... | hyaluronic acid is a hygroscopic macromolecule formed by the polymerisation of glucuronic acid and n - acetylglucosamine disaccharide .
it is a primary component of the extracellular matrix in various body tissues .
ihe use of topical hyaluronic acid in the treatment of oral ulcers has been recently reported .
this article reviews the mechanism of action , indications and efficacy of topical hyaluronic acid gel in the management of oral ulcers . |
6,823 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: retaining patients with human immunodeficiency virus ( hiv ) in medical care after initiation of effective antiretroviral therapy ( art ) is essential for successful hiv treatment .
once patients are initiating art , high levels of adherence to treatment are required to achieve sustained hiv suppression and to reduce risk of drug resistance .
in addition to monitoring adherence to medication , regular clinical follow - up visits are crucial for scheduled laboratory tests , monitoring drug toxicity , timely immunization and prophylaxis for opportunistic infections ( ois ) , and to diagnose and treat new ois that may occur and other comorbidities ( 12345 ) .
multiple studies indicate that poor retention in care is associated with higher rate of art failure and worse survival ( 678910111213 ) .
the identification of risk factors for poor retention in care is of paramount importance to develop targeted interventions to improve optimal individual and public health outcomes and cost effectiveness . some risk factors , including younger age , female sex , racial or ethnic minority status , low socioeconomic status , no usual source of health care , less advanced hiv disease , fewer non - hiv - related comorbidities , and greater unmet psychosocial needs ,
these risk factors are influenced by several factors , such as demographic , disease severity , psychosocial , and ancillary services use factors , and may be variable among different countries .
the objective of this study was to determine the risk factors for suboptimal retention in care among hiv infected adults receiving art in korea .
a retrospective cohort study was conducted to assess the risk factors associated with suboptimal retention in care among hiv - infected patients receiving art .
the characteristics of this cohort and details of the methodology have been previously described ( 11 ) .
briefly , pusan national university hospital is a 1,220 bed , university - affiliated teaching hospital and provides hiv care for hiv infected patients in the... | poor retention in care ( ric ) is associated with higher antiretroviral therapy ( art ) failure and worse survival . identifying high risk patients for poor ric
is important for targeted intervention .
a retrospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in korea .
hiv - infected patients initiating art during 2002 - 2008 were included .
5 year - ric was measured by hospital visit constancy ( hvc ) at 5 years after initiating art . among
247 enrolled patients , 179 ( 72.5% ) remained in care , 20 ( 8.1% ) were transferred to other hospitals , 9 ( 3.6% ) died and 39 ( 15.8% ) were lost to follow - up .
we compared the demographic , psychosocial , and clinical characteristics between the groups with 100% hvc ( n = 166 , 67.2% ) and 50% hvc
( n = 33 , 13.4% ) . in multivariable analysis , art - starting age 30 years ( odds ratio [ or ] 4.08 vs. > 50 ; 95% confidence interval [ ci ] 1.10 - 15.15 , p = 0.036 ) , no non - hiv related comorbidity ( or 2.94 vs. comorbidity 1 ; 95% ci 1.02 - 8.49 , p = 0.046 ) , baseline cd4 cell count > 300 cells/l ( or 3.58 vs. 200 ; 95% ci 1.33 - 9.65 , p = 0.012 ) were significant predictable factors of poor ric .
hiv / aids care - givers should pay attention to young patients with higher baseline cd4 cell counts and no non - hiv related comorbidity . |
6,824 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: postpartum hemorrhage ( pph ) is a life - threatening obstetric emergency that occurs after caesarean section ( cs ) or normal vaginal delivery ( nvd ) .
it may be defined as 500 ml hemorrhage after vaginal or 1000 ml hemorrhage after cs delivery [ 13 ] .
pph is one of the most common obstetric maternal complications and is among the three most common etiologies of maternal death worldwide .
its incidence is increasing and it affects 15% of all deliveries [ 5 , 6 ] .
atony is the main cause of pph and is responsible for about 80% of pphs .
oxytocin infusion , single dose of methylergometrine , and then carboprost tromethamine are used in 15-to-20-minute intervals in atony .
misoprostol , which is a prostaglandin e1 analog , is an inexpensive drug and can be absorbed by the following routes of administration : vaginal , rectal , or oral ( sublingual or buccal absorption ) [ 8 , 9 ] .
gastrointestinal symptoms ( nausea , vomiting , and diarrhea ) and fever are the most common adverse effects of misoprostol , which often are mild and self - limited [ 1012 ] .
several studies have shown that misoprostol is more effective than oxytocin and methylergometrine in the treatment of pph [ 13 , 14 ] . although misoprostol can be used as first - line therapy in the treatment of pph where oxytocin is not available , other studies
have not confirmed that misoprostol is more effective than oxytocin in the prevention of pph .
the aim of this study was therefore to compare the efficacy and safety of oral misoprostol and intravenous oxytocin in the prevention of pph .
this double - blind randomized controlled trial was undertaken at shariati hospital , the only obstetrics and gynecology educational hospital in bandar abbas .
bandar abbas is the capital and the main city of hormozgan province , located in southern iran .
the study was approved by the research committee of hormozgan university of medical sciences ( hums ) and is registered with clinicaltrials.gov ( clinicaltrials.gov identifier : nct01863706 ) .
the required... | postpartum hemorrhage ( pph ) is the commonest cause of maternal death worldwide .
studies suggest that the use of misoprostol may be beneficial in clinical settings where oxytocin is unavailable .
the aim of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of oxytocin and misoprostol when used in the prevention of pph . in a double - blind randomized controlled trial ,
400 pregnant women who had a vaginal delivery were assigned into two groups : to receive either 20 iu of oxytocin in 1000 ml ringer 's solution and two placebo tablets or 400 mcg oral misoprostol ( as two tablets ) and 2 ml normal saline in 1000 ml ringer 's solution .
the quantity of blood loss was higher in the oxytocin group in comparison to the misoprostol group .
there was no significant difference in the decrease in hematocrit and hemoglobin between the two groups .
although there was no significant difference in the need for transfusions between the two groups , the patients in the oxytocin group had greater need for additional oxytocin .
results from this study indicate that it may be considered as an alternative for oxytocin in low resource clinical settings .
this study is registered with clinicaltrials.gov nct01863706 . |
6,825 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: satisfactory bonding to enamel can be achieved using the acid - etching technique , but dentine bonding is more difficult to achieve due to the wet tubular structure , permeability properties , and organic composition of dentinal substrate .
recently there has been increasing interest in the incorporation of fillers into dentine adhesive systems , but the importance of filler particles is somewhat controversial [ 4 , 5 ] . these fillers may include from conventional glass or silica fillers to nanometer - sized aerosil silica .
recently , some researchers have incorporated nanoclay filler particles and hydroxyapatite nanorod fillers in dental adhesives to improve their properties [ 79 ] .
fillers have been added to some adhesive systems to improve bond strength by reinforcing the hybrid zone and reduce polymerizing shrinkage [ 10 , 11 ] .
however , increased filler loading increases viscosity of bonding system and may reduce its flow .
if the addition of fillers prevents the adhesive from adapting optimally to the etched enamel and dentine surface and exposed collagen fibers , a suitable hybrid layer may not form , compromising bond strength and marginal integrity .
inclusion of fillers in dentine adhesives increases their viscosity that tends to prevent overthinning of unfilled adhesive layers , thereby preventing incomplete polymerization caused by oxygen inhibition .
they may also provide stress relief capacities against shrinkage stresses generated during polymerization of resin - based restorative materials , in a way that is similar to the use of resin composite liners and flowable composites . this intermediate layer that acts as an elastic buffer must have adequate properties to withstand the stresses of the oral environment , so the perceived advantages of filled adhesives as stress buffers remain unpredictable . the optimum filler level for maximum increase in bond strength
they will include the size , shape , content of filler particles , and the surface properties of the fillers ( hydrophilic... | in this laboratory study shear bond strengths of three filled and one unfilled adhesive systems to enamel and dentine were compared .
forty - eight extracted intact noncarious human mandibular molars were randomly assigned to two groups of 24 one for bonding to enamel and the other for bonding to dentine .
buccal and lingual surfaces of each tooth were randomly assigned for application of each one of filled ( prime & bond nt ( pbnt ) , optibond solo plus ( obsp ) , and clearfil se bond ( cseb ) ) and unfilled ( single bond ( sb ) ) adhesive systems ( n = 12 ) . a universal resin composite was placed into the translucent plastic cylinders ( 3 mm in diameter and 2 mm in length ) and seated against the enamel and dentine surfaces and polymerized for 40 seconds . shear bond strength was determined using a universal testing machine , and the results were statistically analyzed using two - way anova , one - way anova , t - test , and tukey hsd post hoc test with a 5% level of significance.there were no statistically significant differences in bond strength between the adhesive systems in enamel , but cseb and sb exhibited significantly higher and lower bond strength to dentine , respectively , than the other tested adhesive systems while there were no statistically significant differences between pbnt and obsp . |
6,826 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: between 1960 and 1981 , the national cancer institute ( nci ) and the u.s .
department of agriculture ( usda ) collaborated on a plant screening program that collected and tested 115,000 extracts from 15,000 species of plants to identify naturally occurring compounds with anticancer activity .
samples from a single pacific yew tree , taxus brevifolia , were obtained by usda botanist arthur barclay on the last day of his expedition in 1962 .
after his return , crude extracts from bark , twigs , needles , and fruit were tested , and bark extract was found to be cytotoxic .
mansukh wani and monroe wall , working under contract with the nci at the research triangle institute ( research triangle park , nc ) , received t. brevifolia samples in 1964 . by 1967
, they had isolated and identified the active ingredient from the bark of t. brevifolia and named it taxol , based on its species of origin and the presence of hydroxyl groups ( perdue and hartwell , 1969 ; wall and wani , 1995 ) . in 1971
, they published the structure of taxol ( wani et al . , 1971 ) , and it entered the nci drug development program ( table 1 ) .
walsh and goodman ( 2002a ) .
wall and wani ( 1995 ) .
taxol showed mixed results in preclinical trials and was not uniformly considered the most promising plant product .
the insolubility of taxol in water necessitated its formulation with polyethoxylated castor oil , which can cause severe anaphylactic reactions and further dampened enthusiasm .
however , by 1978 taxol had shown efficacy in a subset of mouse tumor models , including p388 leukemia ( fuchs and johnson , 1978 ) , and it entered clinical trials in 1984 ( walsh and goodman , 2002a ; tuma , 2003 ; table 1 ) .
several clinical trials were delayed because of a shortage of taxol , the only source of which at the time was the slow - growing t. brevifolia . despite the scarcity ,
a clinical study on ovarian cancer proceeded and eventually concluded that 30% of patients with advanced ovarian cancer responded to taxol therapy ( mcguire et ... | taxol ( generic name paclitaxel ) is a microtubule - stabilizing drug that is approved by the food and drug administration for the treatment of ovarian , breast , and lung cancer , as well as kaposi 's sarcoma .
it is used off - label to treat gastroesophageal , endometrial , cervical , prostate , and head and neck cancers , in addition to sarcoma , lymphoma , and leukemia .
paclitaxel has long been recognized to induce mitotic arrest , which leads to cell death in a subset of the arrested population .
however , recent evidence demonstrates that intratumoral concentrations of paclitaxel are too low to cause mitotic arrest and result in multipolar divisions instead .
it is hoped that this insight can now be used to develop a biomarker to identify the 50% of patients that will benefit from paclitaxel therapy . here
i discuss the history of paclitaxel and our recently evolved understanding of its mechanism of action . |
6,827 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: aspirin - exacerbated respiratory disease ( aerd ) is a syndrome characterized by chronic hyperplastic rhinosinusitis , nasal polyposis , asthma , and aspirin sensitivity , as described in 1922 by szczeklik et al .
[ 1 , 2 ] . the prevalence of aerd is variable ; stevenson and szczeklik reported in 2006 that aerd occurs in 3% of adult patients with asthma in the united states , with the onset of symptoms during the third decade of life , and that it is more common in women than in men , with approximately 70% versus 30% in europe and 57% versus 43% in the usa .
the mechanisms underlying aspirin intolerance are not fully defined , with current research focusing on cyclooxygenase 1 ( cox-1 ) inhibition by aspirin and other nsaids diverting arachidonic acid metabolism from cox pathways to the lipoxygenase ( lo ) pathway .
this leads to increased synthesis of the cysteinyl - leukotrienes ( lt ) , ltc4 , ltd4 , and lte4 , resulting in bronchoconstriction , mucus hypersecretion , and possibly the development of polyps and urticaria .
the biological plausibility of this hypothesis fact has led to the search for polymorphisms in genes responsible for lt synthesis , to explore associations between these polymorphisms and local tissue levels of the proteins .
other factors such as polymorphisms in the genes for proinflammatory cytokines including tnf , il1b , il6 , and il8 are involved in chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases .
interleukin 1 ( il-1 ) is a cytokine associated with inflammatory responses and found in two forms , il-1 ( produced by the il1a gene ) and il-1 ( il1b ) , with both genes located on chromosome 2 .
il-1 is expressed in nasal polyps , nasal epithelium , macrophages , activated t lymphocytes , and monocytes ; its expression is regulated by adhesion molecules , and others inflammatory cytokines .
il1b polymorphisms have been associated with inflammatory bowel disease and gastric cancer among other diseases .
recently , genetic polymorphisms in proinflammatory cytokines such as il-1 have... | aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease ( aerd ) is characterized by chronic hyperplastic rhinosinusitis , nasal polyposis , asthma , and aspirin sensitivity .
the mechanisms which produce these manifestations of intolerance are not fully defined , current research focuses on cyclooxygenase 1 ( cox-1 ) inhibition , metabolism of arachidonic acid , and the cox pathway to the lipoxygenase ( lo ) route , inducing increased synthesis of leukotrienes ( lt ) .
the biological plausibility of this model has led to the search for polymorphisms in genes responsible for proinflammatory cytokines synthesis , such as il1b and il8 .
we performed a genetic association study between il8 - 251 ( rs4073 ) and il1b-511 ( rs16944 ) polymorphisms in aerd , aspirin - tolerant asthma ( ata ) , and healthy control subjects . using allelic discrimination by real - time pcr
, we found statistically nonsignificant associations between aerd , ata , and healthy control subjects for the gg and ga genotypes of il1b ( rs16944 ) .
interestingly , the aa genotype showed an increased frequency in the aerd patients versus the ata group ( gf = 0.19 versus 0.07 , p = 0.018 , or 2.98 , and 95% ci 1.177.82 ) .
this is the first observation that il1b polymorphisms are involved in aerd .
thus , future studies must investigate whether interleukin-1 is released in the airways of aerd patients and whether it relates to genetic polymorphisms in the il1b gene . |
6,828 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor ( ceot ) , a rare odontogenic neoplasm arising from odontogenic epithelium was first identified by thoma and goldman .
it was not until 1955 , however , that ceot was recognized as a separate entity by pindborg .
fifty - two percent of ceot are associated with a tooth impacted and/or displaced by the tumor .
the tumor can be divided into two clinico - topographic variants : intraosseous ( central ) and extraosseous ( peripheral ) with an incidence of 94% and 6% , respectively .
the intraosseous tumors , when present have a predilection for the mandible more than maxilla with a ratio of 2:1 in the premolar and molar region .
extraosseous tumors are often located in the anterior region of the jaws and involve the gingiva . the most common clinical manifestation of ceot , when detectable , is a localized swelling of the involved jaw .
pain or paresthesia may or may not be a feature depending upon the size of the tumor , the growth pattern , or its anatomic location and proximity to neurovascular structures .
radiographically , ceot is characterized as a unilocular or multilocular radiolucent lesion that often exhibits a mixed radiopaque - radiolucent pattern .
the mixed pattern is due to areas of scattered flecks of calcification in the central radiolucency .
the histological criteria listed by franklin and pindborg for the diagnosis of ceot are sheets of polyhedral epithelial cells that have well defined border and often show prominent intercellular bridges .
mitotic figures are rarely seen . a characteristic feature seen within the sheets of epithelial cells are circular areas filled with a homogenous substance resembling amyloid - like material , which stains positively with congo red .
some of these cells are also filled by calcified material in the form of concentric leisgang 's rings , which are pathognomic of this tumor .
the tumor cells bear close resemblance to the cells of stratum intermedium of enamel organ and dental lamina remnants , based on its anatomic... | calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor ( ceot ) is a rare benign odontogenic neoplasm of the jaws , accounting for less than 3% of all odontogenic tumors .
it rarely extends into the maxillary sinus . till date , six cases involving maxillary sinus have been reported . in this paper , we report the seventh case of a 52-year - old male with ceot in maxilla extending from distal surface of the right maxillary canine to retromolar area and involving maxillary sinus with no association with impacted teeth .
the diagnosis was confirmed by aspiration cytology and histologically , the tumor was composed of sheets of epithelial cells , with areas of clear cell changes .
the presence of clear cells in the histological sections , accounts for the aggressive nature of the tumor simulating the clinical appearance .
prevention of recurrence can be achieved by radical resection . |
6,829 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: an elderly woman with a history of high blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia was admitted to the emergency room for suspected stroke due to abruptly starting vertigo , blurred vision and difficulties in speech .
neurological examination within 3 h from the symptom onset revealed high blood pressure ( 206/130 mm hg ) , dysarthria and impaired right hand coordination .
twelve hours after symptoms onset , the patient could not speak or swallow but was able to move all extremities .
the patient was intubated because of breathing difficulties and co2 retention . at 24 h ,
the patient could not open her eyes , here pupils were dilated , and there were no spontaneous respiration or movements . yet
a brain mri revealed an old hemorrhage in the pons , and csf findings were normal .
nerve conduction study findings showed that motor amplitudes were negligible , but sensory responses were preserved . in electromyography of the finger
1 ) was observed , but no increment was found in repeated nerve stimulation ( rns ) .
serum , gastric fluid and stool samples were taken , and botulinum antitoxin was given 3 days after symptom onset . despite all treatment efforts , the patient died 13 days after admission to the hospital due to septic shock and multiorgan failure .
three days after the arrival of the first patient , a previously healthy 29-year - old woman was admitted to the emergency room for suspected stroke .
it was soon found that the patient was a relative of patient 1 , and that they had eaten the same food .
although she received the antitoxin treatment the same evening , her neurological symptoms deteriorated during the first 2 days .
she needed assisted ventilation for 3 weeks , although other symptoms were resolved within 1 week .
those olives were strongly positive for botulinum neurotoxin type b , and the gastric content and fecal samples of both patients tested by multiplex pcr were positive for clostridium botulinum type b. in addition , the serum of patient 1 was weakly positive for botulinum neurotoxin... | botulism is a muscle - paralyzing disease caused by neurotoxins ( types a
g ) produced by the bacteria clostridium botulinum . symptoms of food - borne botulism most commonly appear 1236 h after eating contaminated food , but the earliest neurological symptoms may in some cases start abruptly . here , we report the cases of two patients with food - borne botulism who were admitted to the neurological emergency room as candidates for intravenous thrombolysis for acute stroke . |
6,830 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the discovery of coagulation factor xiii ( fxiii ) dates back to 1940s when a serum factor was found to make the fibrin clot insoluble in concentrated urea solution .
in 1960 , a case report demonstrated that the severe bleeding of a patient was due to the deficiency of fibrin stabilizing factor .
soon after this clinical finding , such fibrin stabilizing factor was formally termed fxiii in 1963 .
fxiii is a transglutaminase ( tg ) that circulates in tetrameric form ( fxiii - a2b2 ) , consisting of two a subunits ( fxiii - a ) and two b subunits ( fxiii - b ) .
the a subunit , as the pro - tg , is made up of 732 amino acids with a molecular mass of 83,000 .
fxiii - a comprised five domains : the n - terminal activation peptide ( ap - fxiii ) ( amino acids 137 ) , -sandwich ( 38184 ) , catalytic core ( 185515 ) , -barrel 1 ( 516628 ) , and -barrel 2 ( 629731 ) .
fxiii - b is a glycoprotein consisting of 641 amino acids ; its molecular mass is 80,000 .
it is a typical mosaic protein consisting of 10 short tandem repeats , called sushi domains .
fxiii - b serves as a carrier protein and is essential for the stabilizing of fxiii - a .
it accelerates cross - linking of fibrin by promoting the formation of a ternary complex between proenzyme fxiii , prosubstrate fibrinogen , and activator thrombin .
the catalytic site of fxiii - a2 is cys314 , which is normally occluded by ap - fxiii .
initiated by thrombin , ap - fxiii is cleaved and plasma fxiii - a2b2 is converted to fxiiia2 b2 .
after further disassociation of fxiii - b2 as a result of conformational change after ca binding , fxiii is finally transformed into activated fxiii ( fxiiia ) [ figure 1 ] .
fxiii - a is mainly formed by cells originated from the bone marrow . in plasma ,
all fxiii - a exists in a complexed form of fxiii - a2b2 . while the free form , fxiii - a2 is only found intracellularly , mainly in platelets , megakaryocytes , monocytes , and macrophages .
fxiii - b , synthesized by the hepatocyte , presents both as free form of fxiii - b and a... | objective : to provide a comprehensive literature review on roles of coagulation factor xiii ( fxiii ) in coagulation , wound healing , neoplasm , bone metabolism , and pregnancy.data sources : all articles in pubmed with key words coagulation factor xiii , wound , leukemia , tumor , bone , and pregnancy with published date from 2001 to 2016 were included in the study .
frequently cited publications before 2000 were also included.study selection : we reviewed the role of fxiii in biologic processes as documented in clinical , animal , and in vitro studies.results:fxiii , a member of the transglutaminase ( tg ) family , plays key roles in various biological processes . besides its well - known function in coagulation ,
the cross - linking of small molecules catalyzed by fxiii has been found in studies to help promote wound healing , improve bone metabolism , and prevent miscarriages .
the study has also shown that fxiii concentration level differs in the blood of patients with leukemia and solid tumors and offers promises as a diagnostic indicator.conclusions:fxiii has many more biologic functions besides being known as coagulation factor .
the tg activity of fxiii contributes to several processes , including wound healing , bone extracellular matrix stabilization , and the interaction between embryo and decidua of uterus .
further research is needed to elucidate the link between fxiii and leukemia and solid tumors . |
6,831 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: trimetazidine is well established in stable coronary artery diseasepreliminary evidence suggests that trimetazidine might be an effective drug in diabetic and non - diabetic patients with chronic heart failure and in those with peripheral artery diseasetrimetazidine has been generally well tolerated in clinical trials but some recently reported adverse drug reactions require careful evaluation in studies with longer follow - up
trimetazidine is a cytoprotective drug that normalizes metabolic disturbances in low - flow ischemia via several not yet fully understood
the best known trimetazidine mechanism of action is its capacity to inhibit -oxidation of free fatty acid ( ffa ) .
when oxygen is in low supply , the oxidative processes of ffa and glucose are disrupted paradoxically leading to an increased rate of ffa -oxidation associated with even greater oxygen consumption while glucose metabolism decreases , which results in lactate accumulation and , in extreme cases , development of metabolic acidosis [ 1 , 2 ] . by selectively inhibiting the enzyme
long - chain 3-ketoacyl coenzyme a thiolase ( lc 3-kat ) , which is the final enzyme in the ffa -oxidation pathway , trimetazidine increases the metabolic rate of glucose .
trimetazidine also increases pyruvate dehydrogenase activity , which starts restoring homeostasis between glucose oxidation and glycolysis , imbalanced during ischaemia [ 13 ] .
this results in decreased oxygen consumption during adenosine-5-triphosphate ( atp ) synthesis , hydrogen ion production , limited increase of intracellular acidosis , and reduced calcium ion accumulation [ 1 , 3 , 4 ] . correcting energy insufficiency leads to reduced accumulation of sodium in cardiomyocyte cytoplasm , decreased formation of reactive oxygen species ( ros ) , and reduced neutrophil infiltration [ 5 , 6 ] .
another trimetazidine mechanism of action that may be important for cardiovascular disease patients , including subjects with chronic heart failure ( chf ) , is its direct inhibition of cardiac... | trimetazidine is a cytoprotective drug whose cardiovascular effectiveness , especially in patients with stable ischemic heart disease , has been the source of much controversy in recent years ; some have gone so far as to treat the medication as a
placebo drug whose new side effects , such as parkinsonian symptoms , outweigh its benefits .
this article is an attempt to present the recent key studies , including meta - analyses , on the use of trimetazidine in chronic heart failure , also in patients with diabetes mellitus and arrhythmia , as well as in peripheral artery disease .
this paper also includes the most recent european society of cardiology guidelines , including those of 2013 , on the use of trimetazidine in cardiovascular disease . |
6,832 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the major histocompatibility complex class i chain related a ( mica ) and micb molecules are ligands of nkg2d receptors on natural killer ( nk ) cells , gamma / delta t cells , nkt cells , and cd8a t cells , and mediate antitumor immune responses by stimulating innate and adaptive immune surveillance [ 13 ] .
several polymorphisms have been reported for mica and micb coding and noncoding sequences , located within the mhc class i region close to the tumor necrosis factor gene [ 4 , 5 ] . the mica - tm microsatellite polymorphism is present in exon 5 with eight alleles ( a4 , a5 , a5.1 , a6 , a7 , a8 , a9 , and a10 ) , while the micb gene contains a microsatellite polymorphism named c1_2_a in intron 1 comprising 16 alleles [ 6 , 7 ] .
different mica molecules were reported to vary in their affinities to soluble nkg2d receptors , which may influence antitumor immune responses [ 5 , 8 ] .
recent studies have shown increased serum levels of soluble mica molecules in patients with various malignancies with a correlation to advanced tumor stages . circulating tumor - derived soluble mica molecules
induce downregulation of nkg2d receptors on natural killer cells and thereby decrease responsiveness of tumor - antigen - specific effector t cells .
the mechanism of t and nk cell silencing by down regulation of nkgd cells induced by soluble ligands or chronic exposure to cell surface bound ligands may represent an important mechanism for tumor cells to escape host antitumor immune responses .
some reports have indicated associations of specific mica alleles with epithelial tumors of the nasopharynx and gastric mucosa , with hematopoetic neoplasia and with chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disorders [ 1115 ] .
the allele and genotype frequencies of mica - tm and micb c1_2_a microsatellite polymorphisms in patients with colorectal cancer and a possible immunogenetic predisposition for the development of colorectal cancer or tumor progression have not yet been investigated .
we have therefore analyzed the mica - tm and... | purposethe major histocompatibility complex class i related a ( mica ) and micb molecules are ligands of nkg2d receptors on natural killer cells , gamma / delta t cells , and cd8a t cells that mediate host antitumor immune response .
the role of mica - tm and micb c1_2_a alleles in patients with colorectal cancer has not yet been investigated.methodswe have analyzed the mica - tm and micb c1_2_a polymorphisms in colorectal cancer patients ( n = 79 ) by polymerase chain reaction amplification , subsequent electrophoresis , and sequencing in comparison to a previously analyzed cohort of healthy controls ( n = 306 ) .
allele frequencies obtained for mica - tm and micb c1_2_a were compared to histopathological data regarding tumor invasion , disease progression , microsatellite instability , and the presence of kras mutations ( codon 12 ) and analyzed for possible impact on tumor - related survival ( n = 61).resultsallele frequencies of mica - tm and micb c1_2_a polymorphisms were not different in patients with colorectal cancer in comparison to normal controls . in colorectal cancer patients ,
mica - tm a4 allele was directly and mica - tm a5 allele was inversely associated with lymph node involvement and advanced uicc stages .
tumor - related survival in colorectal cancer patients was significantly reduced in the presence of the mica - tm a4 allele ( p = 0.015 ) . in patients with microsatellite stable tumors ,
survival was reduced in association with the mica - tm a4 allele ( p = 0.006 ) and mica - tm a9 allele ( p = 0.034 ) , but increased in patients showing the mica - tm a5 allele ( p = 0.042).conclusionsspecific mica - tm alleles seem to influence tumor progression and midterm survival of patients with colorectal cancer , indicating an important role of host innate immune predisposition involving nkg2d mediated antitumor response . |
6,833 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: a high number of patients survived from cerebrovascular accident ( cva ) suffer from sensory , motor , cognitive , and emotional disturbances causing limitations in daily functional activities ( 1 ) .
a new approach for the treatment of stroke patients has been developed by observing and imitating the movement of the mirror neurons .
mirror neurons are a group of gray matter neural cells stimulated by the observation of an activity , which enables the observer to imitate the movement ( 2 ) . in humans ,
morphological voxel - based analysis demonstrates differences in brain volumes by functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fmri ) .
also empathic actions indicate that adult women have a significantly larger volume of gray matter in the pars opercularis and frontal - parietal lobes compared to males .
females have a higher volume of gray matter in the right infra - frontal sinus groove , infra - parietal lobe , and internal anterior brain cortex ( 2 , 4 - 6 ) ( figure 1 ) ( 2 ) .
electroencephalography ( eeg ) evidence also supports sex differences with regard to empathy for pain ( 7 ) .
the gray matter regions showing significant sexual dimorphism were rendered onto the averaged horizontal images of the whole sample ( n-24 ) ( voxel threshold : uncorrected p < 0.001 ) .
the gray matter regions that are larger in females than males are presented in red to yellow .
conversely , the gray matter regions that are larger in males are presented in blue to green .
the z - coordinate for each coronal slice in the mni space is given in mm .
r : right . for interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend ,
observation of the movement triggers the mirror neuron system to recognize and imitate it ( 8) .
mirror neurons can effectively help memory formation and motor learning following observation of a movement .
superior performance of women in empathy , emotional interpersonal communications , and emotional recognition compared to men indicates neuroanatomical sex differences and explains greater activity... | background : considering the higher activity of mirror neuron system in females , they frequently have better performance in empathy , interpersonal sensitivity , and emotional recognition compared to males.objectives:the purpose of this study was to assess whether gender difference in neuroanatomy of the human mirror neuron system has any impact on functional recovery of ischemic hemiparetic patients.patients and methods : this single - blind clinical trial was conducted on 24 patients with cerebrovascular accident ( cva ) in the age range of 45 - 60 years , referring at a rehabilitation center in tehran , iran , during 2013 - 2014 .
sampling method was stratified random sampling .
the subjects were assigned to 2 groups of 12 males and 12 females .
then , each group was randomly divided into 2 groups ( totally 4 groups , n = 6 for each group ) : women watching functional movies , control women , men watching functional movies , and control men .
movies were shown to patients and then , they were evaluated by timed up and go ( tug ) , six - minute walk test ( smw ) , barthel index ( bi ) , and berg balance scale ( bbs).results : comparison of all variables related to functional activities of all groups before and after watching movies revealed significant differences .
the highest percentage of change and improvement was observed in groups 1 and 3 watching the functional movies ( p = 0.0001 ) .
percentage of improvement in women of groups 1 and 2 was higher than men in groups 3 and 4 ( p = 0.0003 ) .
the changes in group of females watching the functional movies ( group 1 ) were significantly greater than in other groups ( p < 0.0001).conclusions : the sex differences in the neuroanatomy of the human mirror neuron system affect functional recovery of patients with hemiparesis .
the improvement in studied women was found to be significantly greater than studied men .
the results indicate a higher chance of recovery among hemiparetic women , especially those watching functional movies . |
6,834 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: selenium is the 34th element on the periodic table and has chemical properties resembling those of sulfur ( 1 ) .
it is an essential micronutrient for animals and microorganisms , , used in the synthesis of the seleno - amino acids selenocysteine and selenomethionine ( 2,3 ) and also plays an essential dietary role in humans due to its ability to form the enzyme glutathioine peroxidase which is involved in fat metabolism ( 4 ) .
however , exposure to higher concentrations of selenium is toxic ( 1 ) . high intake of selenium in humans can lead to respiratory distress , liver and kidney necrosis and cell death .
chemical detoxification of polluted sites can be expensive and often results in secondary effects in the environment ( 5 ) .
agricultural drainage , industrial effluents and sewage sludge are major sources of various toxic forms of selenium ( 6 ) . on
average most soils contain between 0.012 mg se / kg while seleniferous soils may have as much as 5 mg se / kg .
natural waters generally have se concentrations < 0.01 mg / l but agricultural drainage waters often have se concentrations of 140 to 1400 mg / l ( 7 ) .
selenium occurs naturally in four oxidation states , i.e. , selenate ( + vi ) , selenite ( + iv ) , elemental selenium ( 0 ) , selenide ( ii ) , and organic selenium ( ii ) , and it is known that prokaryotes play a major role in its oxidation and reduction ( 1 , 8) .
bioremediation is the application of biological systems to the clean - up of organic and inorganic pollution , with bacteria and fungi ( 9 ) .
apparently , microbes that can reduce selenate and selenite are not restricted to any particular group / subgroup of prokaryotes and examples are found throughout the bacterial and archaeal domains ( 10 )
. bacterial reduction of selenate to elemental selenium is an important biogeochemical process in an aquatic environment . in this system
, selenate can be used in microbial respiration or dissimilatory selenate reduction , as a terminal electron acceptor for growth and metabolism ( 11 )... | background and objective : selenium is essential for biological systems at low concentrations and toxic at higher levels .
heavy metals and metalloids such as selenium are major contaminants in 40% of hazardous waste sites . thus , bioremediation has been considered as an effective means of cleaning up of selenium - contaminated sites.materials and methods : in this study , 30 strains were isolated from wastewater samples collected from selenium - contaminated sites in qom , iran using the enrichment culture technique .
one bacterial strain designated qw4 , identified as
proteus hauseri
by morphological , biochemical and 16s rrna gene sequencing was studied for its ability to tolerate different concentrations of sodium selenate ( 100800 mm ) .
also , the disk diffusion method was performed to determine resistance to some antibioticsresults : strain qw4 showed maximum minimum inhibitory concentration ( mic ) to selenate ( 760 mm ) .
the maximum selenate removal was exhibited at 35 c , while the removal activity reduced by 30.7% and 37% at 25 c and 40 c , respectively .
the optimum ph and shaking incubator for removal activity was shown to be 7.0 and 150 rpm , with 60.2% and 60.3% , respectively .
this bacterial strain was resistant to some antibiotics.conclusion:the concentration of toxic sodium selenate ( 1000 g / ml ) in the supernatant of the bacterial culture medium decreased by 100% after 2 days and the color of the medium changed to red due to the formation of less toxic elemental selenium .
also , our results imply that heavy metal pollution may contribute to increased antibiotic resistance through indirect selection . |
6,835 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the descemet 's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty ( dsaek ) procedure is primarily used to treat corneal endothelial dystrophies , and more recently to treat endothelial failure in previous penetrating keratoplasty .
descemet 's membrane and endothelium are removed through a small incision and replaced with donor tissue , which adheres to the recipient 's inner corneal stroma .
the advantages of the dsaek procedure when compared with the traditional penetrating keratoplasty ( pk ) technique have been previously described in the literature [ 1 , 38 ] .
the major postoperative complication of the dsaek procedure is dislocation of the donor tissue from the corneal transplant bed , which has been reported to happen in 427% of patients [ 1 , 5 , 7 , 9 , 10 ] .
donor detachments are most likely attributed to surgeon error or a lack of donor tissue viability . in ontario , procured donor tissue is sent to the eye bank of canada before being shipped to the transplanting surgeons for implantation .
a period of time , typically hours , passes between the death of the donor and enucleation of the eye , and between enucleation and processing .
the tissue then spends a period of days in storage at the eye bank before implantation in the recipient eye .
currently all dsaek donor tissue is prepared by individual surgeons in ontario at the site and time of transplantation , as precut dsaek tissue is not available .
it is our hypothesis that a greater period of time spent in storage prior to processing results in a greater loss of tissue viability and concordantly leads to a higher rate of detachment .
additionally , it is hypothesized that a higher endothelial cell count indicates better tissue function and results in a lower detachment rate
. the primary aim of our investigation is to determine whether these factors play a predictive role in tissue detachment in one surgeon 's practice .
data on donor tissue and procedure outcome were collected through a retrospective chart review of all patients in one academic... | purpose . to determine whether the rate of graft detachment in patients undergoing the dsaek procedure is influenced by the time elapsed between donor death and tissue implantation
. methods . data on procedure outcome and donor tissue for patients undergoing the dsaek procedure were reviewed .
data on time elapsed between harvest , processing , storage , and implantation of the tissue , as well as donor tissue endothelial cell count were obtained from reports made available from the eye bank of canada .
the adverse outcome of interest was graft detachment .
results .
71 cases were reviewed , with 14% resulting in detachment .
the following time periods were compared between detachment and nondetachment groups : donor death to enucleation ; enucleation to processing ; duration of storage at the eye bank to implantation .
no statistically significant differences were found ( student 's t - test , p > 0.05 ) .
endothelial cell counts of donor tissue were compared between the two groups , and no statistically significant difference was found ( student 's t - test , p > 0.05 ) . conclusion .
the range of processing times and endothelial cell counts in donor tissue available from the eye bank did not predict a change in the rate of graft dislocation in one surgeon 's practice . |
6,836 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: following the approval of the study by institutional ethics committee , informed consent was obtained and 40 patients classified as american society of anesthesiologists physical status ( asa ) i ii scheduled for ent procedures were enrolled in this prospective study .
the surgical procedures involved were septoplasty , polypectomy , endoscopic sinus surgery , rhinoplasty , nasal reconstructive surgery , or a combination thereof .
the surgeries were not performed by the same surgeon ; however , the surgeons who performed the surgeries had close seniorities .
patients aged 18 - 65 , who did not receive any sedative or analgesic drugs for 24 hours before surgery , and patients who were not significantly hypertensive ( diastolic blood pressure 100 mmhg ) or hypotensive ( systolic blood pressure 100 mmhg ) , or who did not present any previous signs of bradyar - rhythmic heart disorders were included in the study .
patients were randomly allocated into two groups according to computer generated group numbers as tci group or des group corresponding to administration either propofol / remifentanil tci ( tci group ; n = 20 ) or an inhalational anesthetic regimen using desflurane / remifentanil ( des group ; n = 20 ) . before the operation
, patients were taught to evaluate their pain according to a numeric rating scale ( nrs ) on an 10 point pain scale , where 0 corresponds to no pain while 10 means worst possible pain .
standard monitoring included electrocardiogram , non - invasive blood pressure , pulse oximetry ( spo2 ) and end - tidal carbon dioxide ( etco2 ) .
the quatro sensor electrodes were placed on foreheads and bis values were displayed using an aspect electroencephalogram monitor ( a-2000 bis xp platform ; aspect medical systems , newton , usa ) .
muscle relaxation was monitored with a train - of - four nerve stimulator ( tof watch sx ; organon , ireland ) .
measurements obtained peroperatively that is , one minute after the induction ( beginning of propofol infusion ) ; when loss of... | background : our objective was to examine the clinical properties of two anesthetic regimens , propofol target - controlled infusion ( tci ) , or desflurane using remifentanil tci under bispectral index ( bis ) guidance during ear , nose , and throat ( ent ) procedures.methods:forty consenting patients who scheduled for ent procedures were prospectively studied and were included in one of the two groups : tci group or desflurane ( des ) group .
general anesthesia was induced with 3 ng ml-1 and 4 g ml-1 effect site concentrations ( ce ) of remifentanil and propofol , respectively , with tci system .
after intubation , while propofol infusion was continued in the tci group , it was ceased in the des group and desflurane with an initial delivered fraction of 6% was administered .
the ce of propofol infusion and inspired fraction of desflurane was adjusted in order to keep bis as 50 10.results:general mean values of mean arterial pressure ( map ) and heart rate ( hr ) for the tci group was significantly higher than des group ( 89.3 mmhg and 72.4 bpm vs. 77.1 mmhg and 69.5 bpm ) .
early emergence from anesthesia did not significantly differ between the groups .
the rate of patients aldrete score ( ars ) to reach 10 was found to be 100% at the 15th min in both groups.conclusions:bispectral index guided combinations of remifentanil tci either with propofol tci or desflurane anesthetic regimens are both suitable for patients undergoing ent surgery . the lower blood pressure in the remifentanil tci with desflurane anesthetic regimens may be a significant advantage . |
6,837 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: common skin tumors like basal- and squamous - cell carcinoma present a serious problem in modern medicine .
it is confirmed that a variety of biological consequences such as increases in skin cancer or cataract may result from the increased uv exposure due to ozone depletion and atmospheric ozone hole .
uv radiation may also be produced by artificial sources , for example by quartz lamps frequently used in tanning parlors .
carcinogenesis of skin tumors is very often associated with chronic exposure to uv radiation , and frequent sunburns in childhood may lead to skin cancer in later age .
uv - a and uv - b radiation are responsible for photoaging , an accelerated aging of skin .
photoaging is characterized by loss of skin elasticity , roughness , deep wrinkles and pigmentations .
one of the most common malignant skin tumors is basal cell carcinoma ( bcc ) .
bcc most commonly occurs in middle - aged and elderly persons ( 5070 years old ) , mainly in caucasians who were exposed to sunlight radiation .
one of the most important biological features is low degree of malignancy and low rate of local growth ; however , over time it may contribute to local destruction of surrounding tissues , resulting in deep ulcerations .
bcc is mainly located on the skin exposed to uv light , especially on the head , neck and limbs .
these lesions more often recur after incomplete surgical treatment , but generally bcc has a good prognosis .
surgery , cryosurgery , electrodissection and co2 laser therapy are typical treatment methods [ 48 ] .
photodynamic therapy ( pdt ) comprises 2 main agents : light and a specific chemical compound called a photosensitizer .
photosensitizers have a high affinity to malignant cells and after absorption of energy from light they shift into an excited state .
a photosensitizer in the excited state causes photochemical reactions that lead to necrosis and apoptosis in pathological tissues . for many years pdt
was used to detect and to treat different lesions located in the skin and mucosa [ 913 ]... | summarybackgroundcommon skin tumors like basal- and squamous - cell carcinoma present a serious problem in modern medicine .
exposure to ultraviolet solar radiation is the main cause of these lesions . since application of aldara and pdt
separately is well documented , we decided to use both methods together.the aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of local photodynamic therapy supplemented with topical application of aldara in basal - cell carcinoma.material/methodsthirty-four patients ages 50 to 68 years were enrolled to the trial and underwent pdt treatment .
each case of bcc was histopathologically confirmed .
ten patients were subjected to local levulan-pdt and placebo ( eucerin as vehicle cream ) , and 24 patients were subjected to levulan-pdt and imiquimod .
photodynamic diagnosis ( pdd ) was used to detect and visualize suspicious foci ( including cancer lesions).resultsin the group of patients who were treated using levulan-pdt and placebo , 6 patients ( 60% ) were totally cured and 4 lesions ( 40% ) significantly decreased in size . in the group of patients treated with levulan-pdt and imiquimod ,
18 lesions totally disappeared ( 75% ) , 6 lesions significantly diminished , and in 1 patient small foci of previously excised bcc developed again in scar tissue 10 month after the first control examination.conclusionscure was achieved without any scarring and with very good cosmetic effects .
although this is the preliminary report , the presented modification of pdt seems to be reasonable and promising in treating basal - cell carcinoma . |
6,838 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: over fourteen years ago , the concept of gray and green was first introduced by wright and lund as representing new awareness and call for increased scholarships at the intersection of environmental issues and the aging process [ 24 ] .
an important dimension of that original article was to bring more attention to the role of the natural environment in contrast to the built environment in relation to successful aging .
this review paper revisits the concept of gray and green with a fresh perspective using selected examples from the literature on the specific role of gardens and gardening as it enhances the aging experience .
although the examination of the horticultural and human experience has been previously examined , especially in the context of well - being and social development [ 6 , 7 ] and in the lives of the elderly , this review paper offers a more contemporary perspective on the increasing number of publications since the early 1990s that have addressed gardening , gardens , and aging , particularly since the emergence of the gray and green publication in the year 2000 .
gardening is one of the most popular home - based leisure activities in the us and represents a significant and salient activity in the lives of older adults [ 915 ] .
the national gardening association claimed that 80% of us households tended to plants , which represented an increase of 65% from the year 1996 .
the 55- to 64-year - old age group was the cohort that spent the most on horticultural products and services and this trend will most likely continue with aging baby - boomers [ 16 , 17 ] .
some have proposed that there is an increased return to the small - scale farming approach as a new calling in life for many aging individuals .
this trend is supported by the growing interest in the organic food movement for both environmental and health - conscious ideals .
however , it is proposed in this paper that gardening may represent a facet of a much deeper gerontological connection between the natural environment ,... | over fourteen years ago , the concept of gray and green was first introduced by wright and lund ( 2000 ) to represent a new awareness and a call for increased scholarship at the intersection of environmental issues and the aging process .
this review paper revisits that concept with a fresh perspective on the specific role of gardens and gardening in the aging experience .
as example , gardening is one of the most popular home - based leisure activities in the us and represents an important activity in the lives of older adults in a variety of residential settings . yet
, there has been a lack of any comprehensive and multidisciplinary ( science and humanities ) examination of the nexus between gardening and the aging experience , and in particular with research connections to stewardship and caring . in this paper , we review contemporary articles demonstrating the multidisciplinarity of gardening and the aging process .
first , we will focus on the beneficial psychological effects resulting from the cultivation of caring , including personal contentment and artistic expression .
second , we will focus on stewardship and how gardening increases health , community awareness , and a connection to future generations . on the surface , this may demonstrate a separation between the humanities and science , but we will clarify a symbiotic relationship between the two disciplines in our conclusion . |
6,839 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: botallo 's duct is a blood vessel that connects the pulmonary artery to the aorta during fetal development , and our knowledge of the pathophysiology of this duct is increasing steadily.1 clinically , patent da ( ductus arteriosus ) is often used synonymously with persistent da ' , and both are frequently abbreviated as pda ' even though they differ in morphology and therapeutic implications.2,3 the term
patent da is an umbrella term that is used for all situations in which the da is either physiologically or pathologically open . in this review
pda ' to refer to patent ductus arteriosus . a patent ductus arteriosus ( pda ) is a physiologic shunt in healthy full - term and preterm infants that tipically presents during the first three days of life.4 pda in preterm infants may have clinical consequences depending on the degree of left - to - right shunting .
the increase in pulmonary blood flow in premature infants may lead to pulmonary edema , loss of lung compliance , and deterioration of the respiratory status , which ultimately lead to chronic lung disease ( cld ) and an increased morbidity and mortality.5 a shunting of blood between the aorta and pulmonary artery , which is favored by the postnatal decrease in pulmonary vascular resistance,6 causes the hemodynamic and clinical consequences of pda .
the shunt also modifies the distribution of blood to the lungs and other organs and may contribute to an increased risk of serious and prolonged neonatal respiratory distress , intraventricular hemorrhage ( ivh ) , necrotizing enterocolitis ( nec ) , bronchopulmonary dysplasia ( bpd ) , and death.7,8 the incidence of pda in full - term neonates has been estimated to be 57 per 100,000 live births,3 whereas persistence of the duct occurs in approximately one - third of premature neonates with a birth weight between 501 and 1,500 grams.9 in neonates weighing less than 1,000 g , it has been reported that 55% develop a symptomatic pda requiring pharmacological treatment.10,11 the spontaneous closure of a pda... | although the prophylactic administration of indomethacin in extremely low - birth weight infants reduces the frequency of patent ductus arteriosus and severe intraventricular hemorrhage , it does not appear to provide any long - term benefit in terms of survival without neurosensory and cognitive outcomes .
considering the increased drug - induced reduction in renal , intestinal , and cerebral blood flow , the use of prophylaxis can not be routinely recommended in preterm neonates .
however , a better understanding of the genetic background of each infant may allow for individualized prophylaxis using nsaids and metabolomics . |
6,840 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: with approval from the oregon state university animal care and use committee ( animal care and use proposal no .
4329 ) , blood samples were collected from 92 horses being evaluated for medical conditions ( e.g. , anorexia , weight loss , lameness , administration of endoparasiticides and ectoparasiticides ) or before elective surgery ( e.g. , castration , wound repair ) at the clinic in mrida from august 28 through september 4 , 2013 .
( a. phagocytophilum and a. platys ) , b. burgdorferi sensu stricto , and ehrlichia spp .
( e.canis , e. chaffeensis , and e. ewingii ) by using the elisa - based assay snap 4dxplus ( idexx laboratories , inc . ,
westbrook , me , usa ) according to the manufacturer s instructions ( 9 ) .
the assay does not use a host species specific conjugate and can therefore be used in research to screen mammals other than dogs . according to assay results , 51 ( 55% ) horse serum samples
the 51 ehrlichia spp.reactive serum samples were subsequently stored at 28c for up to 1 week during transport to the united states . for pcr testing , samples were shipped ( us department of agriculture import permit no .
13846 ) to the intracellular pathogens research laboratory , center for comparative medicine and translational research , north carolina state university , college of veterinary medicine .
dna extraction from 200 l of edta - anticoagulated whole blood was performed by using a qiasymphony dna mini kit ( qiagen , valencia , ca , usa ; catalog no .
previously described pcrs were used to amplify a 420-bp fragment of the 16s rrna gene , a 620-bp fragment of the groel gene , and a 300-bp fragment of the ehrlichia spp .
a larger , 600-bp , fragment of the sodb gene was amplified from 1 sample that was positive by pcr by using the following unpublished primers : sodbehrl600-f 5-atgtttactttacctgaacttccatatc-3 and sodbehrl600-r 5-atctttgagctgcaaaatcccaatt-3. positive ( anaplasma or ehrlichia spp . plasmid dna ) and negative ( rnase - free molecular - grade water and a dna extraction control... | ehrlichia sp . dna was amplified from 4 ehrlichia - seroreactive horses from mrida , nicaragua .
sequencing of 16s rdna , sodb , and groel genes indicated that the bacterium is most likely a novel ehrlichia species .
the tick vector and the potential for canine and human infection remain unknown . |
6,841 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the data on the expression levels of human genes were taken from the gene expression atlas ( 35 ) .
the uniform platform for all tissues was affymetrix u95a . only probes that presented the characterized genes ( i.e. those with links to the refseq database ) were used , with signals from probes on the chip corresponding to the same gene being averaged ( with total of 7708 genes ) .
only data for normal tissues were used , samples and replicates representing the same tissue were averaged ( with total of 32 tissues ) . as was recommended ,
a gene was regarded as expressed if its signal level exceeded a conservative threshold of 200 arbitrary units ( 35 ) .
it should also be noted that there is a strong correlation ( spearman r = 0.89 ,
p < 10 ) between the expression breadth ( number of tissues where a given gene is expressed ) and the expression level averaged over all tissues studied ( 34 ) .
the intronic sequences were found for 6874 genes , and the intergenic sequences ( both upstream and downstream ones ) , for 5104 genes . in the case of alternative splicing variants , the longest coding sequence was taken .
the average length and gc content of upstream and downstream intergenic sequences were taken as the corresponding values of the intergenic spacer for a given gene .
the nucleosome formation potential of nucleotide sequences was determined using the method by levitsky and co - workers ( 3739 ) , constructed and verified on the basis of large experimental datasets of nucleosome positioning sequences ( 4042 ) .
the nucleosome formation potential was averaged over each sequence length ; for introns , exons and intergenic spacers it was also weight - averaged for each gene .
the nucleosome formation potential shows a negative correlation with gc content ( figure 1 ) , which is in accordance with the expectations from the physical properties of dna helix associated with gc content ( 16 ) .
it was previously reported that gc content of both intronic and intergenic sequences should be included as covariate... | the nucleosome formation potential of introns , intergenic spacers and exons of human genes is shown here to negatively correlate with among - tissues breadth of gene expression .
the nucleosome formation potential is also found to negatively correlate with the gc content of genomic sequences ; the slope of regression line is steeper in exons compared with noncoding dna ( introns and intergenic spacers ) .
the correlation with gc content is independent of sequence length ; in turn , the nucleosome formation potential of introns and intergenic spacers positively ( albeit weakly ) correlates with sequence length independently of gc content .
these findings help explain the functional significance of the isochores ( regions differing in gc content ) in the human genome as a result of optimization of genomic structure for epigenetic complexity and support the notion that noncoding dna is important for orderly chromatin condensation and chromatin - mediated suppression of tissue - specific genes . |
6,842 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy ( hcm ) is a common inherited cardiac disorder which is estimated to occur in one out of 500 patients within the general population .
an autosomal dominant mutation is found in approximately 5060% of cases , most frequently in genes that code for sarcomeric proteins .
these mutations often lead to thickening of the left ventricular ( lv ) wall , myocyte disarray , and cardiac fibrosis .
important clinical consequences of hcm are heart failure and potentially life - threatening ventricular arrhythmias .
hcm is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death ( scd ) under the age of 35 years , especially in young athletes .
about one sixth of the cases of scd occur during or immediately after moderate to severe physical activity [ 4 , 5 ] . because of the phenotypic heterogeneity of hcm it is important to find predictors and mechanisms that can explain scd , particularly in relation to exercise [ 6 , 7 ] .
the precise mechanism of underlying arrhythmias remains unknown and it is currently unsettled whether scd is triggered by pro - arrhythmic changes in hypertrophied cardiac myocytes themselves or rather by changes in the myocardial structure due to myocardial fibrosis [ 811 ] . since scd in hcm patients is often related to exercise and to fibrosis , we sought to determine the prevalence of ventricular arrhythmias during exercise - ecg testing in a population of proven carriers of an hcm causing mutation and relate this to fibrosis as determined with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging ( cmr ) .
a cohort of 31 genetically proven hcm mutation carriers ( probands and family members ) were seen between march 2004 and february 2008 in the maastricht university medical center , the netherlands .
we included all carriers , symptomatic and asymptomatic , where both a cmr and exercise test were available for analysis . patients were examined with a clinical 1.5 t gyroscan intera mri scanner ( philips medical systems , best , the netherlands ) equipped with a dedicated five - element phased... | aimshypertrophic cardiomyopathy ( hcm ) is a frequent cause of sudden cardiac death ( scd ) due to exercise - related ventricular arrhythmias ( erva ) ; however the pathological substrate is uncertain .
the aim was to determine the prevalence of erva and their relation with fibrosis as determined by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging ( cmr ) in carriers of an hcm causing mutation.methodswe studied the prevalence and origin of erva and related these with fibrosis on cmr in a population of 31 hcm mutation carriers.resultserva occurred in seven patients ( 23% ) who all showed evidence of fibrosis ( 100% erva(+ ) vs. 58% erva(- ) , p = 0.04 ) .
no ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation occurred . in patients with erva ,
the extent of fibrosis was significantly larger ( 8 4% vs. 3 4% , p = 0.02 ) .
erva originated from areas with a high extent of fibrosis or regions directly adjacent to these areas.conclusionserva in hcm mutation carriers arose from the area of fibrosis detected by cmr ; erva seems closely related to cardiac fibrosis .
fibrosis as detected by cmr should be evaluated as an additional risk factor to further delineate risk of scd in carriers of an hcm causing mutation . |
6,843 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: genomics has the potential to provide an in depth understanding of the genetics , biochemistry , physiology , and pathogenesis of a microorganism .
furthermore comparative genomics , functional genomics , and related technologies , are helping to unravel the molecular basis of the pathogenesis , evolution , and phenotypic differences among different species , strains , or clones and to uncover potential virulence genes .
knowledge of the genomes provides the basis for the application of new powerful approaches for the understanding of the biology of the organisms studied .
although legionella are mainly environmental bacteria , several species are pathogenic to humans , in particular legionella pneumophila ( fraser et al . , 1977 ; mcdade et al . , 1977 ) and legionella longbeachae ( mckinney et al . , 1981 ) .
legionnaires disease has emerged in the second half of the twentieth century partly due to human alterations of the environment .
the development of artificial water systems in the last decades like air conditioning systems , cooling towers , showers , and other aerosolizing devices has allowed legionella to gain access to the human respiratory system . when inhaled in contaminated aerosols
, pathogenic legionella can reach the alveoli of the lung where they are subsequently engulfed by macrophages .
in contrast to most bacteria , which are destroyed , some legionella species can multiply within the phagosome and eventually kill the macrophage , resulting in a severe , often fatal pneumonia called legionellosis or legionnaires disease ( mortality rate of 520% ; up to 50% in nosocomial infections ; steinert et al .
, 2002 ; marrie , 2008 ; whiley and bentham , 2011 ) . to replicate
intracellularly l. pneumophila manipulates host cellular processes using bacterial proteins that are delivered into the cytosolic compartment of the host cell by a specialized type iv secretion system called dot / icm .
the proteins delivered by the dot / icm system target host factors implicated in controlling membrane... | although best known for its ability to cause severe pneumonia in people whose immune defenses are weakened , legionella pneumophila and legionella longbeachae are two species of a large genus of bacteria that are ubiquitous in nature , where they parasitize protozoa .
adaptation to the host environment and exploitation of host cell functions are critical for the success of these intracellular pathogens .
the establishment and publication of the complete genome sequences of l. pneumophila and l. longbeachae isolates paved the way for major breakthroughs in understanding the biology of these organisms . in this review we present the knowledge gained from the analyses and comparison of the complete genome sequences of different l. pneumophila and l. longbeachae strains .
emphasis is given on putative virulence and legionella life cycle related functions , such as the identification of an extended array of eukaryotic like proteins , many of which have been shown to modulate host cell functions to the pathogen s advantage .
surprisingly , many of the eukaryotic domain proteins identified in l. pneumophila as well as many substrates of the dot / icm type iv secretion system essential for intracellular replication are different between these two species , although they cause the same disease .
finally , evolutionary aspects regarding the eukaryotic like proteins in legionella are discussed . |
6,844 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the kynurenine pathway is the main route for tryptophan metabolism , and kynurenic acid ( kyna ) is one of the biologically active metabolites in this pathway .
physiologically , the normal plasma kyna concentration ranges between 25 and 60 nmol / l [ 14 ] . several pathologic conditions such as inflammation , sepsis and septic shock , stroke and cerebral ischaemia , alzheimer s disease , multiple sclerosis , epilepsy , and depression affect plasma kyna concentrations [ 14,6,7 ] .
an increase in the plasma kyna concentration has also been observed following thoracic and cardiovascular surgery .
however , the effect of carotid surgery on plasma kyna concentration has not been documented .
carotid surgery is an evidence - based treatment for the prevention of carotid - related cerebrovascular complications .
unfortunately , carotid endarterectomy ( cea ) or carotid angioplasty stenting ( cas ) may disturb cerebral circulation , leading to various cerebral injuries , including carotid surgery - related stroke .
these pathologies elevate mortality , morbidity , and hospital costs and significantly impair quality of life .
moreover , rapid improvement of cerebral circulation and increases in oxygen supply may disturb brain function and affect the kynurenine pathway .
the aim of the present study was to analyze the changes in plasma kyna concentrations in patients undergoing carotid surgery .
the study was approved by the committee for bioethics at the medical university of lublin , and written informed consent was obtained from all patients .
patients scheduled for elective carotid surgery due to stenosis were included in this study . computed tomography angiography and color duplex ultrasound examination were used to determine the severity of carotid stenosis .
patients who received routine shunting or required general anaesthesia were excluded from analysis . according to the society of vascular surgery , cea is performed in all symptomatic patients with carotid stenosis of 50% to 90% and asymptomatic patients... | backgroundan increase in plasma kynurenic acid ( kyna ) concentration has been observed following surgery , inflammation , and cerebral pathologies .
the aim of the present study was to analyze the changes in plasma kyna concentration in patients undergoing carotid surgery ( cs).material / methodsadult patients undergoing elective carotid endarterectomy ( cea ) or carotid angioplasty with stent placement ( cas ) were studied .
plasma kyna concentrations were analyzed before surgery and at 4 time points after cs .
the amount of inflammation was measured as neutrophil - lymphocyte ratio ( nlr).resultsforty patients ( 10 female and 30 male ) aged 5586 years of age were evaluated in this study . in patients with unstable carotid plaque ,
the plasma kyna concentration was higher than in patients with stable carotid plaque .
moreover , the nlr was significantly higher in patients with unstable carotid plaque undergoing cea than in patients undergoing cas .
plasma kyna concentration increased after surgery in patients undergoing cea and cas .
there was a strong correlation between plasma kyna concentration and nlr in patients with postoperative neurological disorders.conclusionscs increases plasma kyna concentration , and changes in plasma kyna concentration can indicate neurologic outcomes in patients undergoing cs . |
6,845 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the presentation of vasculitis is highly variable , with more severe cases resulting in hemorrhage , ischemia , or other complications depending on the degree of inflammation and to what extent the vascular architecture is compromised . for cutaneous vasculitis , up to 20% of cases are drug - induced with histology demonstrating leukocytoclastic vasculitis ( lcv ) .
the classic presentation of cutaneous vasculitis is palpable purpura , but ranges from erythematous lesions to deep ulcers or digital gangrene .
the identification of drug - induced lcv is critical since withdrawal of the offending agent can be life - saving .
we describe a case of levofloxacin - associated lcv and review the pertinent literature involving the association of fluoroquinolones with cutaneous vasculitis .
a 64-year old man presented for evaluation of a painful , erythematous , and violaceous rash on his left leg that had developed over the previous 24 h. the day before presentation , the patient had completed a 5-day - course of levofloxacin 500 mg twice daily for a presumed respiratory infection .
the patient had a history of severe varicose veins in his lower extremities which had led to chronic lower extremity edema after undergoing elective vein removal procedures .
other past medical history included benign prostatic hypertrophy , erectile dysfunction , and a distant history of left great toe osteomyelitis .
medications included felodipine 5 mg daily , hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg daily , terazosin 1 mg daily , vardenafil 5 mg as needed , and the recently prescribed levofloxacin .
patient 's vital signs on presentation were body temperature 96.8f , pulse 63/min , respiratory rate 18/min , blood pressure 155/95 mmhg , and pulse oximetry 98% on room air .
numerous purpuric papules coalescing into large plaques were present on the medial and anterior distal left leg with dark purple coloration centrally and non - blanching erythema around the periphery of the lesions .
there was an approximately 2 cm in diameter coalesced plaque of... | many cases of cutaneous vasculitis are drug - induced with histology revealing leukocytoclastic vasculitis ( lcv ) .
we present a case of levofloxacin - associated lcv successfully treated with prednisone and cessation of the offending drug .
although case reports describe a link between lcv and older fluoroquinolones , such as ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin , recent reports have implicated the newer fluoroquinolone levofloxacin .
recognition of fluoroquinolone - induced cutaneous vasculitis is important as continuation or re - exposure of the offending agent may have life - threatening consequences . |
6,846 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: fragment screening has become an increasingly
important technique in early stage drug discovery . occupying the chemical space that is commonly described
by the rule - of - three ( ro3 ) criteria of physicochemical
properties , fragment - like molecules are
smaller in size than lead - like and drug - like molecules used in conventional
high - throughput screening ( hts ) .
screening of fragment - sized molecules
aims to sample a greater coverage of chemical diversity using a smaller
collection of compounds , at the same time
providing better hits as starting points for optimization into chemical
leads .
typical fragment screening
libraries contain compounds that originated either from commercial
sources or proprietary synthetic chemical intermediates . while these
fragments may mostly conform to the ro3 physicochemical properties
criteria , the chemical space they represent may not entirely project
to the lead - like or drug - like chemical spaces that are relevant to
medicinal chemistry . to ensure appropriate sampling of chemical space
in fragment screening , it is essential to understand the current coverage
of known medicinal chemistry space by commercial fragments . using
chembl as an open - access medicinal chemistry
repository , we investigated the overlap between the fragment - like
chemical space of exemplified medicinal chemistry substructures generated
from chembl and that of fragments available from commercial vendors
listed in the emolecules database .
the
distribution of biologically active medicinal chemistry compounds
was also analyzed , and property trends that differentiate active from
inactive compounds were identified . based upon these results ,
we make
recommendations on the composition of fragment screening libraries
to enhance sampling of the chemical space in fragment screening that
is enriched in biologically relevant compounds .
all compounds annotated as small molecules
in chembl and with a minimum of one ring
( 1.01... | analyzing
the chemical space coverage in commercial fragment screening collections
revealed the overlap between bioactive medicinal chemistry substructures
and rule - of - three compliant fragments is only 25% .
we recommend
including these fragments in fragment screening libraries to maximize
confidence in discovering hit matter within known bioactive chemical
space , while incorporation of nonoverlapping substructures could offer
novel hits in screening libraries .
using principal component analysis ,
polar and three - dimensional substructures display a higher - than - average
enrichment of bioactive compounds , indicating increasing representation
of these substructures may be beneficial in fragment screening . |
6,847 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: low back pain ( lbp ) is a major public health problem all over the industrial countries and is one of the leading causes for sick leave and disability .
in addition , it was recommended that fitness programs and advice to stay active can reduce pain , improve function , and can prevent lbp becoming chronic .
the call center industry is one of the most expansive labor market sectors these days . in thailand
, there are an increasing number of telephone operators at the call centers day - by - day due to the economic growth of the country .
there was a high proportion of call - center operators reported musculoskeletal symptoms , and the call - center operators were exposed to working conditions that indicated an increased risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders .
nevertheless , there is few literature regarding health and working conditions among call - center operators .
hence , this study was designed with the aim of investigating the physical activity levels and incidence of lbp among call - center operators working as telephone operators .
participants in this study were call - center operators who were working as telephone operators at the company for at least 6 month .
operators were excluded if they had fracture , scoliosis , musculoskeletal disease , or injuries within 6 months prior to this study .
the questionnaire consisted of three parts ;
part i : demographic characteristics and job characteristics of the call - center operatorspart ii : level of physical activity and exercise intensity .
the levels of physical activity were assessed in at five levels ; never , 12 times / week , 34 times / week , and 56 times / week every day .
the operational term physical activity was as a personal training exercise or physically exercises beside from work .
in addition , based on the time spent on each exercise , the exercise intensity was assessed at 3 levels ; light , moderate , and highpart iii : a standardized nordic questionnaire for analyzing musculoskeletal discomfort in different body regions... | background : call - center operators are exposed to working conditions that indicate an increased risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders . nevertheless , there are few studies regarding health and working condition in call - center operators .
thus , this study was designed to investigate the physical activity levels and prevalence of low back pain ( lbp ) in thai call - center operators.materials and methods : a self - reported questionnaire was distributed to 150 operators at a call center to identify the physical activity levels , prevalence of lbp , personal characteristics , and associated work factors.results:the questionnaire response rate was 70% ( n = 105 ) .
the participants ' age was 27.8 3.1 years , height was 159.97 6.26 cm , weight was 52.89 12.89 kg , and females 86.7% ( n = 91 ) , and males 13.3% ( n = 14 ) .
participants worked at least 6 days every week , with an average of 8 hours each day .
sixty - one percent of them worked over time with an average 2 h / day .
forty percent of the participants had no exercise ; 34.3% exercised 12 times / week .
those who did physical exercise spent less than 30 min / time .
the overall self - reported prevalence of lbp was 65.7% , and they reported high severity of lbp for 42.9% .
all participants reported that their lbp as recurring , and 62.9% reported that lbp was aggravating by sitting during working hours.conclusion:the call - center operators had a sedentary work style .
the majority of operators in this study had low level of physical activity and suffered from low back pain .
the prevalence of low back pain was associated to their level of physical activity and work factors . |
6,848 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: traumatic spinal cord injury ( sci ) often leads to serious neurological sequelae and medical complications .
the secondary damage following sci is induced by multiple pathophysiological mechanisms , including vascular perturbation , metabolic failure , ionic dysregulation , and celluar excitotoxicity7,10 ) .
these mechanisms increase blood - spinal cord barrier permeability , tissue edema , free radical formation , peroxidation of lipid membranes , cytokines release , and inflammation .
a few investigations were introduced in order to minimize secondary damage using electrical stimulation , aminoacids , and drugs3,14,15,18 ) .
electrostimulation of sacral nerve roots is currently being used with promising results as a treatment for a wide spectrum of voiding dysfunctions . also , some investigators reported additional effects of the sacral nerve stimulation such as change of spasticity and spasm , increased motility of intestinal tract and defecation , and improvement of leg motor in experimental and clinical studies3,6,13,17 ) .
prior investigators revealed that one patient with a long history of progressive spinal multiple sclerosis was able to stand and transfer , but not walking , before the sacral nerve stimulation6 ) .
another paraplegic patient was showed improvement of motor power slowly , and after 2 years the patient could stand as confident as before6 ) .
the purpose of this study was to evaluate neuroprotective effect of sacral neuromodulation in rat thoracic spinal cord injury model in histological and functional aspects .
twenty - one sprague dawley of 6 months old female , weighing 200 to 250 gm , were randomly divided into 3 groups : a normal control group ( ctl , n=7 ) , sci with sham stimulation group ( sci , n=7 ) , and sci with electrical stimulation ( sci+es , n=7 ) .
the sci group included rats that were injured with electrodes implanted but did not receive stimulation .
the sci+es group included rats that received electrical stimulation at the s2 or s3 nerve root using needle electrode... | objectivethe purpose of this study is to evaluate neuroprotective effect of sacral neuromodulation in rat spinal cord injury ( sci ) model in the histological and functional aspects.methodstwenty-one female sprague dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups : the normal control group ( ctl , n=7 ) , the sci with sham stimulation group ( sci , n=7 ) , and the sci with electrical stimulation ( sci+es , n=7 ) .
spinal cord was injured by dropping an impactor from 25 mm height .
sacral nerve electrical stimulation was performed by the following protocol : pulse duration , 0.1 ms ; frequency , 20 hz ; stimulation time , 30 minutes ; and stimulation duration , 4 weeks .
both locomotor function and histological examination were evaluated as scheduled.resultsthe number of anterior horn cell was 12.35.7 cells / high power field ( hpf ) in the ctl group , 7.84.9 cells / hpf in the sci group , and 6.95.5 cells / hpf in the sci+es group , respectively .
both the sci and the sci+es groups showed severe loss of anterior horn cells and myelin fibers compared with the ctl group .
cavitation and demyelinization of the nerve fibers has no significant difference between the sci group and the sci+es group .
cavitation of dorsal column was more evident in only two rats of sci group than the sci+es group .
the locomotor function of all rats improved over time but there was no significant difference at any point in time between the sci and the sci+es group.conclusionin a rat thoracic spinal cord contusion model , we observed that sacral neuromodulation did not prevent sci - induced myelin loss and apoptosis . |
6,849 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: during the past 35 years , health technology assessment ( hta ) has been utilized in industrialized countries such as usa , canada and europe .
a wonderful transformation has occurred in health decision in various countries such as sweden , spain , france , england , and italy .
however hta is a new context in developing countries , and expanding rapidly ( 14 ) .
health sector s decision and policy makers rely on comprehensive scientific evidence in order to make decisions . over the past few decades
, a rising trend has been observed in these countries towards more efficient allocation of healthcare technologies under given budget constraints .
thereby , htas have turned out to be a recognized decision- and prioritization tool ( 5 , 6 ) .
world health organization ( who ) has paid special attention to the hta during the past 2 decades .
utilizing htas is similarly expanding in developing countries , as the hta organizations have been formed in malaysia , philippine , thailand , china , and pakistan .
briefly , most of the countries such as iran , that follow up their health sector reform program , have paid special attention to the topic of hta and to selecting as well as using the proper technology within the framework of political strategic and health sector management ( 7 ) .
the aim of this study was to investigate the administrative process and function of hta office in iran .
the area of iran is 1648195sq - km which makes it the 17 largest country in the world .
iran s gdp at ( ppp ) per capita was 9200 , 9800 and 11700 us$ in 2005 , 2006 , and 2007 respectively ( 8) also life expectancy for both sexes in 2002 , was 68.9 yr ( 9 ) .
rahbar says : the right of all citizens to health care is embodied in the constitution of iran which recognizes the rights of all citizens to health as well as an equitable distribution of health services based on ideology principles . in practice , this has resulted in a strong focus on basic public health financed through the public budget and delivered to all iranians... | background : to provide an overview of the development of health technology assessment ( hta ) in iran since 2007 , and to facilitate further development of hta and its integration into policy making.methods:data of this study were collected through key documents ( e.g. literature , laws , and other official documentation ) and analyzed by experts of opinion in form of qualitative methods.results:health technology assessment entered to the political agenda in iran only in 2007 with a strong impetus of an evidence - based medicine movement with the bellow objectives : institutionalization of evidence - based decision making in ministry of health , creating an localization for structural hta in health system of iran , setting up training courses in order to educate capable manpower to full up the capacity of the universities , establishment of a new field in hta subject in medical universities for msc and phd degree , international communication about hta through national website and possible participation in international congress.conclusion:hta has been established in the healthcare system of iran but what is needed is a clear political will to push forward the objectives of hta in iran . similar to other countries , advance the regulation on the adoption of new health technologies to improve not only technical or allocate efficiency , but also health equity . |
6,850 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: stress is a normal physical response to events that make a person feel threatened or upset their balance in some way . when danger is sensed whether it s real or imagined the body s defenses kick into high gear in a rapid , automatic process known as the fight - or - flight reaction , or the stress response .
as anyone who has faced a work deadline or competed in a sport can attest , stress mobilizes the body to respond , thereby improving performance . yet too much stress or chronic stress
the global burden of disease study predicted major depression to become the second leading cause of disability by 2020 .
lifetime prevalence was estimated to be approximately 17% in the united states , with similar rates being reported on the european level.1 major depressive disorders ( mdd ) displays a variety of psychopathological symptoms and diverse clinical manifestations , with depressed mood and/or a loss of interest or pleasure , as core symptoms .
additional symptoms encompass changes to weight , appetite , sleep , psychomotor , as well as thinking disturbances that include excessive worrying , guilt , and possibly suicidal ideation.2 modulating the brain s reward and motivation circuits , governed primarily by dopamine ( a monoamine neurotransmitter ) , has therefore become one of the most attractive targets for treating depressive disorders.3 the neurotransmitter dopamine was first identified as a potential neurotransmitter in the brain in the late 1950s by carlsson.4 dopamine plays a key role in the regulation of various physiological functions of a normal brain , including reward , locomotion , behavior , learning , and emotion .
one is located in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamic median eminence and is involved in neuroendocrine regulation .
the other is located in the ventral mesencephalon and projects to the forebrain.5 dopamine exerts its effects on neurons through five known subtypes of dopamine receptors , which are grouped into two classes d1-like ( d1 , d5 ) and d2-like ( d2 , d3 , d4 )... | because of the complex causal factors leading to depression , epigenetics is of considerable interest for the understanding effect of stress in depression .
dopamine is a key neurotransmitter important in many physiological functions , including motor control , mood , and the reward pathway .
these factors lead many drugs to target dopamine receptors in treating depressive disorders . in this review ,
we try to portray how chronic stress as an epigenetic factor changes the gene regulation pattern by interrupting dopamine signaling mechanism . |
6,851 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: more than a billion people around the world are overweight , and approximately 300 million are obese.1 obesity is considered an important independent risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease ( cvd)24 and mortality.5 several pathophysiological mechanisms may explain the strong association between obesity and the risk of developing cvd , including autonomic dysfunction , which , due to a reduced cardiac vagal tone ( cvt),6 can alone be an important risk factor for cvd7 , 8 and mortality.9 studies have shown that obesity , evaluated by simple indicators such as body mass index ( bmi ) ( weight / height2 ) , fat regional indicators or total body fat ( i.e. , waist circumference and sum of skinfolds , respectively ) , is associated with a reduced cvt.1014 for example , freeman et al .
a study of obese subjects by chen et al.13 demonstrated a better association between cvt and indicators of central obesity ( i.e. , waist circumference ) as compared to total indicators of obesity , such as bmi . in theory , it is possible that some degree of cvt reduction can anticipate the appearance of clinical signs and symptoms of certain diseases .
as such , cvt may function as a pre - clinical sign that can be potentially useful for clinical decision making .
although current evidence supports the hypothesis that cvt varies inversely with indicators of obesity,15 , 16 an analysis of cvt in healthy adult men who are not obese but are within the upper limits of normality for some selected and unfavorable anthropometric characteristics ( uac ) , such as being overweight , having an increased waist circumference and presenting a predominantly endomorphic somatotype , has not yet been carried out .
therefore , our aim was to determine if there are differences in cvt values in non - obese healthy , adult men ( bmi < 30 kg / m ) with and without uac and to relate cvt to select anthropometric measurements .
data from 1688 consecutive detailed medical - functional evaluations between 2004 and 2008 were reviewed , and... | objectives : to determine if there are differences in cardiac vagal tone values in non - obese healthy , adult men with and without unfavorable anthropometric characteristics.introduction:it is well established that obesity reduces cardiac vagal tone . however , it remains unknown if decreases in cardiac vagal tone can be observed early in non - obese healthy , adult men presenting unfavorable anthropometric characteristics.methods:among 1688 individuals assessed between 2004 and 2008 , we selected 118 non - obese ( bmi < 30 kg / m2 ) , healthy men ( no known disease conditions or regular use of relevant medications ) , aged between 20 and 77 years old ( 42 12-years - old ) .
their evaluation included clinical examination , anthropometric assessment ( body height and weight , sum of six skinfolds , waist circumference and somatotype ) , a 4-second exercise test to estimate cardiac vagal tone and a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test to exclude individuals with myocardial ischemia .
the same physician performed all procedures.results:a lower cardiac vagal tone was found for the individuals in the higher quintiles
unfavorable anthropometric characteristics - of bmi ( p=0.005 ) , sum of six skinfolds ( p=0.037 ) and waist circumference ( p<0.001 ) .
in addition , the more endomorphic individuals also presented a lower cardiac vagal tone ( p=0.023 ) , while an ectomorphic build was related to higher cardiac vagal tone values as estimated by the 4-second exercise test ( r=0.23 ; p=0.017).conclusions : non - obese and healthy adult men with unfavorable anthropometric characteristics tend to present lower cardiac vagal tone levels .
early identification of this trend by simple protocols that are non - invasive and risk - free , using select anthropometric characteristics , may be clinically useful in a global strategy to prevent cardiovascular disease . |
6,852 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: different minimally invasive approaches have been described in order to treat ureteropelvic junction obstruction ( upjo ) with several advantages that include reduced postoperative pain 1 , shorter convalescence and minimal disfigurement . among minimally invasive approaches ,
however , reported success rates vary around 15 - 20% lower than those for open pyeloplasty 2 , 3 , and it has also been associated with a higher risk of perioperative hemorrhage 4 . alternatively , laparoscopic pyeloplasty ( lp ) success rate matches that of open pyeloplasty 5 .
moreover , and unlike endourological procedures , the latter is not limited by high insertion , crossing vessels , large redundant pelvis and intrinsic obstruction .
once the benefits of laparoscopic pyeloplasty have been established for upjo treatment 6 , and bearing in mind that it is technically demanding and time consuming , we consider mandatory to develop a validated training program with the aim of mastering the necessary procedural maneuvers . in order to improve endoscopic suturing for laparoscopic pyeloplasty different training protocols
have been developed based on physical simulators , virtual simulators , animal models and cadavers , among others 7 .
we consider that , in an advanced stage of training , and before applying it to human patients , the lp technique should be performed in highly realistic scenarios , superior to the offered possibilities of physical or virtual simulation , for instance on an animal model of ureteral obstruction .
different methods have been described for the creation of upjo animal models 8 - 10 . in this study
we chose an easy to create and reproducible pelvic dilatation method , carried out by the most widely established minimally invasive approach ( laparoscopy ) , and also by a more recent up - to - date
the primary endpoint of this study was to compare different surgical approaches in an attempt to minimize complications and access - related injuries when creating an acute ureteral obstruction in a porcine model... | this study aims firstly to assess the most adequate surgical approach for the creation of an ureteropelvic juntion obstruction ( upjo ) animal model , and secondly to validate this model for laparoscopic pyeloplasty training among urologists.thirty six large white pigs ( 28.295.48 kg ) were used .
the left ureteropelvic junction was occluded by means of an endoclip . according to the surgical approach for model creation
, pigs were randomized into : laparoscopic conventional surgery ( lap ) or single port surgery ( lsp ) .
each group was further divided into transperitoneal ( + t ) or retroperitoneal ( + r ) approach .
time needed for access , surgical field preparation , wound closure , and total surgical times were registered .
social behavior , tenderness to the touch and wound inflammation were evaluated in the early postoperative period .
after ten days , all animals underwent an anderson - hynes pyeloplasty carried out by 9 urologists , who subsequently assessed the model by means of a subjective validation questionnaire.total operative time was significantly greater in lsp+r ( p=0.001 ) .
tenderness to the touch was significantly increased in both retroperitoneal approaches , ( p=0.0001 ) .
surgeons rated the upjo porcine model for training on laparoscopic pyeloplasty with high or very high scores , all above 4 on a 1 - 5 point likert scale.our upjo animal model is useful for laparoscopic pyeloplasty training .
the model created by retroperitoneal single port approach presented the best score in the subjective evaluation , whereas , as a whole , transabdominal laparoscopic approach was preferred . |
6,853 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: pathogenic bacteria have caused serious diseases and a lot of mortality in many nations , especially in the developing countries .
these agents usually spread quickly , and the most susceptibilities to them have been assigned to the immunocompromised persons , pregnant mothers , children , and older individuals ( 1 ) . along with the progressive resistance of bacteria to the current antibiotics as a result of irregular antibiotic consumption in medicine , the health and general hygiene of people are strongly at risk , and , therefore , to avoid this threat , identification and utilizing novel anti - bacterial compounds are required ( 2 ) . in the recent years
, experimental researches have introduced some thiazole derivatives as the multi - therapeutic effect compounds including anti - cancer , anti - inflammatory , and inhibitor of the parasites like leishmania and the fungi such as candida ( 36 ) . moreover ,
the anti - bacterial effects of these compounds have been proven on a wide range of pathogens like bacillus subtilis , staphylococcus aureus , pseudomonas aeruginosa , and klebsiella aerogenes so that their potency and broad spectrum activity have promised the researchers to replace them with out - dated drugs to which the bacteria are resisting ( 7 ) . also regarding the imidazole derivatives ,
many properties such as the anti - fungal , anti - viral , anti - parasitic , and in - vitro inhibition of cancer cells have been demonstrated , and studying the anti - bacterial effects of these compounds has emphasized their power to inhibit the bacteria such as enterococcus faecalis , staphylococcus aureus , and pseudomonas aeruginosa ( 811 ) .
the potent and wide range anti - bacterial properties of the thiazole and imidazole derivatives have generally made the anti - bacterial test to be among the initial experiments that are studied after synthesizing these agents . in this study
, we evaluated the in - vitro anti - bacterial effects of two novel imidazole and one new thiazole derivatives , which have... | background and objectives : bacterial resistance to antibiotics has motivated the researchers to evaluate the novel anti - bacterial compounds such as some thiazole and imidazole derivatives . thereby , in this work , we investigated the anti - bacterial effects of one new thiazole and two new imidazole derivatives on bacillus cereus , listeria monocytogenes , escherichia coli , salmonella typhimurium , proteus mirabilis and shigella dysenteriae.materials and methods : the thiazole and imidazole derivatives were dissolved in dmso .
the disk diffusion method was utilized to measure the growth inhibition zone diameter values , and the broth micro - dilution method was applied to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration ( mic ) values.results:the synthesized imidazole derivatives lacked any inhibitory effect against the tested bacteria . on the other hand , although the synthesized thiazole derivative showed no inhibitory effect against bacillus cereus , salmonella typhimurium , and escherichia coli , it inhibited the growth of proteus mirabilis , shigella dysenteriae , and listeria monocytogenes with the mic values of 1000 , 125 , and 1000 g / ml , respectively , and the growth inhibition zone diameter values of 9.3 0.1 , 15.6 0.2 , and 8.1 0.0 mm , respectively.conclusion:the anti - bacterial effect of the synthesized thiazole derivative on shigella dysenteriae , proteus mirabilis and listeria monocytogenes was proven . however , its inhibition effect against shigella dysenteriae was more than that against the others .
many in - vitro and in - vivo experiments are required to evaluate the effects of this compound on the bacteria and the human body . |
6,854 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: there is an increasing focus on the detection of preclinical dementia to optimize preventive and therapeutic strategies for this group of patients .
mild cognitive impairment ( mci ) is regarded as a risk factor or transitional state of dementia . to enable targeted interventions ,
it is of great importance to identify patients with mci who are at high risk of developing dementia .
hence , there is a widespread ambition for clinicians to differentiate precisely between mci and the early stages of dementia .
consequently , there is a high demand for good - quality clinical assessments of mci and early dementia , which is a challenge that has to be met in daily clinical practice .
many studies have explored the prevalence of mci and the rate of progression to dementia in different populations . the expected conversion rate is higher in clinical populations than in nonclinical ones .
accordingly , farias et al . found annual conversion rates of 13% in a clinical sample and 3% in a community sample . in a meta - analysis of clinical studies from 2009 , the annual progression rate from mci to dementia was estimated to be 9.6% for clinical populations , whereas a recent review reported that the conversion rate to alzheimer 's dementia ranged from 10.2 to 33.6% in different clinical cohorts .
the considerable differences in the estimates of the annual progression rate from mci to dementia reported previously show that there still is a need to explore the factors that affect the rate of progression from mci to dementia in different cohorts .
simple and easy - to - administer cognitive tests have become indispensable tools for the effective and reliable assessment of dementia .
correspondingly , the development of simple tools that would allow a more accurate differentiation between mci and early - stage dementia and the identification of subjects at high risk of developing dementia would be of great clinical value .
thus , the aims of this study were to investigate whether simple cognitive screening tests can... | backgroundthe identification of patients with mild cognitive impairment ( mci ) who are at high risk of conversion to dementia is a challenging clinical task . aims : to investigate whether simple cognitive screening tests can predict the conversion from mci to dementia and to study the impact of different patient characteristics on the progression rate.methodsa retrospective , longitudinal study of 90 outpatients diagnosed with mci at a psychogeriatric clinic in norway was conducted .
baseline scores on the mini - mental state examination ( mmse ) , clock drawing test ( cdt ) , and neurobehavioral cognitive status examination ( cognistat ) were related to icd-10 diagnosis during 46 months .
the influence of demographic , life situational , and clinical data were analyzed.resultssixty-four patients were diagnosed with dementia , significantly more females ( 82% ) than males ( 50% ) ( p < 0.01 ) .
low scores on the cdt [ adjusted hazard ratio ( hr ) = 0.85 ; 95% ci 0.73 - 0.97 ; p = 0.020 ] and cognistat ( adjusted hr = 0.78 ; 95% ci 0.65 - 0.93 ; p = 0.007 ) significantly predicted the conversion from mci to dementia , whereas the mmse score did not.conclusionsa high proportion of patients converted from mci to dementia within 46 months , and females seem to be at higher risk .
cdt and cognistat significantly predicted the conversion from mci to dementia and are therefore considered appropriate tests in clinical practice . |
6,855 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: derives from the greek word
gelos ( laughter ) and was introduced in 1957 by daly
and mulder .
it is used to name seizures characterized by sudden laughter
attacks , out of social context , without any particular emotion like joy or
happiness . in 1971 ,
gascon and lombroso suggested as diagnostic criteria the presence of stereotyped
laughter episodes in the absence of external triggers that can be associated
with other epileptic manifestations , ictal or interictal discharges on the
electroencephalogram ( eeg ) , and absence of other conditions that could explain
the pathologic laughter .
the vast majority of gelastic epilepsy series reported
include only children , and they have found an association with hypothalamic
hamartomas , a lesion that therefore must be always ruled out in these patients .
however , other lesions and localizations have also been reported , mainly in
other adult patients , , . here
, we describe three patients with gelastic
seizures ( gs ) with no evidence of hypothalamic hamartomas .
a 35-year - old man with a history of neurocysticercosis was
treated with antiparasitic drugs as a teenager . since the age of 29 years , he had almost daily spells characterized by sudden
unmotivated laughter attacks which were described by his relatives since the
patient was not aware .
in addition , he had occasional seizures which started
with forced head version towards the right , followed by right upper and
lower limb jerks , and finally secondary generalization .
magnetic
resonance imaging ( mri ) showed upper right and inferior left mesial frontal
lobe nodular lesions , consistent with calcified neurocysticercosis
( fig .
five gs were
recorded on scalp video - eeg monitoring , all of them showing ictal patterns
arising from the left anterior temporal lobe ( fig .
positron emission tomography
( pet ) was performed , showing left mesial frontal and anterior temporal
hypometabolism ( fig .
invasive
recordings were performed with left... | gelastic epilepsy or laughing seizures have been
historically related to children with hypothalamic hamartomas .
we report three
adult patients who had gelastic epilepsy , defined as the presence of seizures
with a prominent laugh component , including brain imaging , surface / invasive
electroencephalography , positron emission tomography , and medical / surgical
outcomes .
none of the patients had hamartoma or other hypothalamic lesion .
two
patients were classified as having refractory epilepsy ( one had biopsy - proven
neurocysticercosis and the other one hippocampal sclerosis and temporal cortical
dysplasia ) .
the third patient had no lesion on mri and had complete control with
carbamazepine .
both lesional patients underwent resective surgery , one with
complete seizure control and the other one with poor outcome .
although
hypothalamic hamartomas should always be ruled out in patients with gelastic
epilepsy , laughing seizures can also arise from frontal and temporal lobe foci ,
which can be surgically removed .
in addition , we present the first case of
gelastic epilepsy due to neurocysticercosis . |
6,856 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: healthy lifestyle is defined as all kinds of human activities that maintain , strengthen , and restore health .
health education is a complex process during which students are taught to care for their own health and the health of society .
its main objective is to propagate knowledge about health itself , provide counselling in relation to health - related risks , and promote a healthy lifestyle .
health promotion means raising individual and societal awareness concerning health and factors affecting health , as well as developing and strengthening health resources of the individual and the community . in poland , there are many alarming tendencies to neglect a healthy lifestyle .. the exact characteristics of attitudes toward smoking among school children was presented in a nationwide study done in the framework of the global youth tobacco survey [ 2 , 3 ] results showed that 64 % of boys and 53 % of girls aged 1315 years have smoked cigarettes ; 30 % of boys and 21 % of girls have tried smoking before the age of 10 years . furthermore , 25 % of boys and 21 % of girls admitted to smoking in the previous month .
this figure is approximate to those presented in other countries of the european union .
the diet of polish adolescents was observed to be excessively high in flour products , sweets , and animal fats and too low in fish , vegetables , fruit , and products containing probiotics .
the health behaviour in school - aged children ( hbsc ) study revealed a number of irregularities in the field of health behaviors among polish youth . in 2010 , 76 % of polish youth aged 1115 years had tried alcoholic beverages .
another worry is the teenager s eating habits : 6070 % of youth eat no vegetables or dark bread , 41 % have no milk , and 41 % candy and sweet drinks daily .
every sixth teenager goes to school without breakfast , and one in five do not eat a second breakfast at school . after heart and cardiovascular diseases
there are two main groups of factors related to the development of... | reduction in the incidence of cancer can be achieved through appropriate health behaviors . we hypothesized that education would improve knowledge of cancer prevention , and this , in turn , will affect and individual s readiness to modify lifestyle .
the aim of this study was to assess the impact of cancer prevention education on adopting and preserving prohealth attitudes among high school students in poland .
research participants were 307 high school students varying by gender , place of residence , parents education , and type of school education .
participants were divided into five groups , of which four were educated using different methods according to classification methods based on the concept of multilateral learning .
the fifth ( control ) group was not educated .
the effects of education were assessed 1 month and 1 year after education .
general knowledge about cancer and healthy lifestyle level before education was low .
after education , both increased compared with the control group .
there was a clear relationship between level of knowledge and readiness to adopt and healthy attitudes and behavior .
the most effective method of education was a discussion and a lecture by means of teaching complex .
education significantly improved generally low knowledge about cancer and healthy lifestyle in high school students .
this indicates the urgent need to implement such educational programs . |
6,857 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: schizophrenia is a serious and neurodevelopmental disorder , which affects approximately 1% of the general population often - devastating effects such as psychological , social and financial skills .
schizophrenia can disturb memory , attention , thought and motivation of affected patients ( 1 ) .
twin concordance rates , family and adoption studies , genetic linkage and allelic association analyses revealed a strong genetic element contributing to schizophrenia ( 2 ) .
therefore , due to the high percentage of heredity involvement , over 1000 genes have been tested to assess such an association .
this makes schizophrenia one of the most studied disorders through a candidate gene approach ( 4 , 5 ) .
caveolins ( encoded by cav1 gene ) are multifunctional scaffolding and cholesterol binding proteins organizing other lipids and proteins in surface domains ; also they regulate various cellular functions such as lipid homeostasis , vesicular trafficking and signal transduction .
in fact , caveolin is extensively expressed in the nervous systems ( 7 - 11 ) . in cav1
knock - out mice , neurodegeneration and aging is more advanced than normal mice ( 12 , 13 ) . current analyses of genomic structural variations in patients with schizophrenia showed that caveolin-1 gene ( cav1 ) is disrupted by an insertion mutation , therefore the cav1 is identified as a rare structural variant correlated with schizophrenia ( 14 ) .
given the importance of this region in neurodegenerative diseases , any changes in this area of genome may result in illnesses such as schizophrenia .
cav1 is also known as an interacting partner of g - protein and its loss can cause destruction of neuronal signaling leading to signs of schizophrenia in susceptible persons ( 9 - 11 ) .
the purine rich complex at the 1.5 kb upper region of the human cav1 gene is composed of three tandem strs of ggaa , gaaa and ggaa motifs , which is conserved in different species as shown in table 1 ( 15 , 16 ) . a skew in the homozygous haplotype of this region in... | background : caveolin is a multifunctional and scaffolding membrane protein , which involves cholesterol trafficking to plasma lipid microdomain .
it organizes and targets synaptic parts of the neurotransmitter and neurotrophic receptor signaling pathways .
caveolins are encoded by cav-1 , 2 and 3 genes .
disruption of the cav1 would likely ruin the neuronal signaling , which leads to symptoms of schizophrenia in predisposed individuals.objectives:the upper area of cav-1 gene is highly conserved and can have a regulatory role in neurodegenerative diseases .
this study was designed to find out the possible association of polymorphisms of this area and schizophrenia.patients and methods : in a case - control study , 254 blood samples were obtained from 127 patients with schizophrenia and 127 well matched controls referred to 22 bahman hospital of qazvin university of medical sciences ( qums ) in qazvin province , iran , using simple random sampling method . after extracting dna , the upper region of the human cav1- gene was amplified by pcr in all collected samples .
the products were visualized by silver staining in 10% polyacrylamide gel and then sequenced.results:we detected nine homozygotes in patients and 15 in control subjects .
homozygosity was 7.08% and 11.8% in cases and control , respectively .
nine types homozygote haplotype were detected in upper region of the cav1 gene in cases and controls .
three haplotypes were common in cases and controls ; four haplotypes were seen in controls only and two in cases.conclusions:our findings implied a significant correlation between some haplotypes of upper region of cav1 gene and schizophrenia .
existence of some haplotypes and lack of another in cav1 upstream can suggest a significant correlation between schizophrenia and some haplotypes . |
6,858 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: aortoesophageal fistula is a rare , devastating and usually fatal condition which has multiple aetiological factors . the first report , in 1818 , described the death of a 28-year - old soldier who exsanguinated after ingesting a beef bone fragment .
a comprehensive review , published by hollander and quick , which included 500 cases of fistula , identified three major causes of aortoesophageal fistula , the main aetiologic factor being aortic disease with 54.2% of cases secondary to rupture of a descending thoracic aorta aneurysm into the oesophagus . foreign body ingestion ( 19.2% ) and advanced esophageal carcinoma ( 17.0% ) were the next commonest causes .
regardless of cause , the optimal management of the fistula remains controversial , and recent literature has focused on the role of endovascular techniques and open thoracic surgery .
however , high mortality from the condition usually results from massive uncontrolled haemorrhage prior to these interventions being possible .
although non - surgical measures to control the initial haemodynamic insult caused by haemorrhage have been described , this remains a relatively unexplored area of management .
a 47-year - old caucasian man with recently diagnosed advanced esophageal cancer attended the imaging department for an ultrasound scan . in the waiting area , the patient had a massive haematemesis and proceeded into a peri - arrest state .
tech , seoul , distributed by mtw , wesel , germany ) was inserted across the lesion .
ct confirmed an esophageal tumour in continuity with the right main bronchus with an associated right lung abscess .
an overlapping fully covered 12 18 alveolus aero stent ( alveolus , charlotte , n.c . ,
1 ) , presumably because the bronchial fistula had been adequately sealed with the stents , creating an undrained collection in the lung which subsequently fistulated through to the pleural cavity .
while awaiting a video - assisted thoracoscopic surgical procedure to drain and seal the abscess and empyema , he spontaneously... | aortoesophageal fistulas are a rare but commonly fatal complication of esophageal cancer
. reports of successfully managed cases are few , with high mortality and morbidity usually resulting from failure to control the initial massive haemodynamic insult .
we report the case of a 47-year - old caucasian man with recently diagnosed advanced esophageal cancer who suffered an episode of massive haematemesis .
emergency gastroscopy revealed an arterial bleeding point in the proximal esophagus .
a self - expanding metal esophageal stent was placed to achieve initial partial haemostasis .
ct angiography confirmed an aortoesophageal fistula .
an endoluminal stent device was thus inserted within the thoracic aorta stabilising the bleeding point .
the patient subsequently made an uneventful recovery and was discharged on long - term antibiotics for palliative care .
he survived for 2 months at home before dying of disseminated malignancy .
the successful use of esophageal stenting as a means of achieving haemostasis , allowing time for endovascular intervention , is as yet a relatively unexplored area of management of this rare condition . |
6,859 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: different carbanionic nucleophiles can be reacted with -amido sulfones , affording a wide variety of amino derivatives [ 2 - 7 ] .
in addition , considerable research has been conducted on the reaction of nitrogen nucleophiles and ,-unsaturated carbonyls [ 8 - 11 ] .
heteronucleophiles as well as carbanionic reagents can react with -amido sulfones , thus giving the opportunity to prepare a large array of amino derivatives .
furthermore , a series of amino derivatives containing 1 , 3 , 4-oxadiazole ring were synthesized by the reaction of 1 , 3 , 4-oxadiazole-2-thiol with suitably substituted amines and formaldehyde in ethanol . based on these reports , we executed an inorganic base - mediated reaction of 5-subsititued phenyl-1 , 3 , 4-oxadiazole-2-thiols as the source of nitrogen nucleophiles with n - benzoyl--amido sulfones to produce n , n - aminals .
interestingly , the resulting compounds bearing a 1 , 3 , 4-oxadiazole ring are often associated with significant fungicidal and insecticidal activities [ 13 - 15 ] .
nevertheless , as of today , there has been no report on antiviral activities of n - substituted benzamides bearing 1,3,4-oxadiazol unit .
the synthetic route to the title n - substituted benzamides 5 is shown in scheme 1 . in order to prepare the key electrophilic component n - benzoyl--amido sulfones 4 for the final reaction , a three components reaction involving aromatic aldehyde , benzamide and sodium sulfonate was used by modifying the procedure reported by chemla .
the reaction was fast , free of any significant side products formation and the pure product was isolated in moderate yield through recrystallization .
the sulfones were characterized by h nmr , c nmr and ir spectral data . finally , reaction of nitrogen nucleophiles 3 with n - benzoyl--amido sulfones in the presence of basic catalyst koh in ch2cl2 at room temperature afforded the desired n - substituted benzamides 5 bearing 1,3,4-oxadiazol group [ additional file 1 ] .
the effect of different solvents and bases was studied at... | backgroundheteronucleophiles as well as carbanionic reagents can be used to react with -amido sulfones , thus giving the opportunity to prepare a large array of amino derivatives . since ,
novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiol derivatives can serve as potent nucleophiles , we employed 5-subsititued phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiols as the nucleophilic source of nitrogen in the reaction with -amido sulfones.resultsa series of n - substituted benzamides bearing 1,3,4-oxadiazol unit were prepared for the first time by the reaction of in situ generated protected imine from -amido sulfones with 5-subsititued phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiols as the source of nitrogen nucleophile .
some of the synthesized products displayed favourable antiviral activity against cucumber mosaic virus ( cmv ) in preliminary antiviral activity tests .
the title compounds 5c , 5o and 5r revealed curative activity of 42.2% , 48.7% and 40.5% , respectively against cmv ( inhibitory rate ) compared to the commercial standard ningnanmycin ( 53.4% ) at 500 g / ml.conclusiona practical synthetic route to n - benzoyl--amido sulfones by the reaction of 5-subsititued phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiols as the source of nitrogen nucleophiles with in situ generated protected imine from n - benzoyl--amido sulfones is presented .
the reaction catalyzed by an inorganic base has considerable significance to exploit the potential of -amido sulfones in organic synthesis . |
6,860 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: q fever is caused by the small gram - negative intracellular bacterium , coxiella burnetii .
it is rare and there are approximately 40 cases reported annually in the united states .
chronic q fever is also rare , occurring in < 5% of persons with acute infection and most commonly occurs as infective endocarditis ( ie ) or vascular infection .
we present a 52-year - old woman from michigan with chronic q fever presenting as prosthetic aortic valve infective endocarditis .
pcr testing for bacterial organisms performed on the explanted cardiac valve tissue confirmed the diagnosis of c. burnetii ie .
subsequent history identified consumption of raw milk from a shared cow in a local farm as the likely source of the pathogen .
a 52-year - old caucasian woman , who is an educator from kalamazoo , michigan , was referred to the cleveland clinic with a chief complaint of fever , chills , and progressive dyspnea on exertion of several months duration .
her fever , chills , and night sweats were more prominent in the last two weeks prior to evaluation .
she also complained of abdominal pain which had increased markedly in the last one month associated with nausea and non - bloody , non - bilious vomiting with reduced oral intake and involuntary weight loss of 25 pounds over this period .
she has rheumatoid arthritis ( ra ) and has been taking etanercept for the last 15 years .
she underwent an aortic valve replacement due to aortic regurgitation 12 years prior to presentation at our institution .
she denied exposure to sick contacts , invasive dental procedures , intravenous drug use , tick bites or recent travel .
she had a blood pressure of 104/57 mmhg and was tachycardic with a pulse rate of 135 bpm .
on cardiovascular exam , there was a 3/6 diastolic murmur appreciated in the left sternal area with the presence of normal s1 and s2 .
there was a well - healed median sternotomy scar from her prior open heart surgery . on abdominal examination ,
the spleen was palpable at 23 cm from the costal margin with tenderness... | chronic q fever caused by coxiella burnetii is uncommon in the united states and is most often associated with infective endocarditis .
we present a 52-year - old woman with a history of aortic valve replacement and rheumatoid arthritis treated with etanercept with chronic q fever manifesting as prosthetic valve infective endocarditis .
explanted valve tissue showed organisms confirmed to be c. burnetii by pcr ( polymerase chain reaction ) sequencing .
she subsequently reported consumption of unpasteurized cow milk which was the likely source of c. burnetii .
she continues to do well 6 months after valve replacement on oral doxycycline and hydroxychloroquine . |
6,861 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: a 69-year - old female presented with the complaints of headache and pain in the left eye of one month duration .
she was a known patient of unilateral pseudoexfoliation glaucoma , who underwent manual small incision cataract surgery with mitomycin c ( 0.2 mg / ml for 2 min ) augmented trabeculectomy in her left eye .
it was a single site combined surgery in the superior quadrant of the eye , with a fornix based conjunctival flap and a single releasable 10 - 0 nylon suture anchoring the scleral flap using a modified ( first bite in peripheral cornea ) kolker 's technique .
surgery was performed 3 years back and she lost to follow - up after 1 month of surgery . at present , she had no history of diminution of vision or trauma to the left eye and was not a diabetic .
anterior segment examination of the right eye showed pseudoexfoliation material on the pupillary ruff with posterior chamber intraocular lens in the bag and the left eye showed clear cornea with a releasable suture , a low noncystic bleb with an elevated area and congestion overlying it , normal anterior chamber with pseudoexfoliative material on the pupillary ruff and a posterior chamber intraocular lens in the bag [ fig . 1 ] .
the intraocular pressure was 12 mmhg in both eyes and fundus examination showed a cup disc ratio of 0.4 with healthy neuroretinal rim in the right eye and 0.9 with bipolar notch in the left eye and age related macular degeneration changes in both eyes .
the releasable suture in the left eye had mucus debris and the bleb showed collection of pus [ fig .
left eye photograph showing clear cornea , normal anterior chamber , pseudoexfoliative material on pupil and intraocular lens a collection in the bleb with releasable suture on gonioscopy , ostium was free and posterior segment examination showed no signs of vitritis .
nasolacrimal duct of both sides were free of infection and patient 's random blood sugar was within the normal limits .
the releasable suture was removed and inoculated in blood agar and the collection of pus... | we report a case of blebitis that occurred 3 years later following a combined glaucoma and cataract surgery .
it was an atypical presentation , as patient had no classical fiery looking signs of blebitis despite the isolated organism being pseudomonas aeruginosa .
improvized surgical techniques like use of mitomycin c , releasable flap sutures though considered as part of the recommended procedure for better surgical outcomes , their role as potential risk factors for visually blinding complications like endophthalmitis are often overlooked .
this case report throws light on such risk factors for bleb associated infections and recommends removal or trimming of all releasable sutures and the need for a regular postoperative follow - up . |
6,862 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: sleep bruxism has characteristically been defined by the american academy of sleep medicine as an oral activity characterized by grinding or clenching of the teeth during sleep , usually associated with sleep arousals ' .
although numerous investigations stress the assumption of a central causation , such as neuropathophysiology and psychology , a detailed clarification regarding the aetiology of sleep bruxism is still lacking . to date , most authors correspond with the supposition of a multifactorial development of sleep bruxism . during a few years , explanatory models in the field of the dental profession , such as occlusal interferences or variances in the orofacial anatomy ,
are thought to be of inferior , possibly without any , relevance in the development of sleep bruxism activity .
for this reason , the perception in respect of the relationship between sleep bruxism and the stomatognathic system has changed .
consequently , sleep bruxism is supposed to be induced centrally , whereas the effects of this parafunctional activity are predominantly found in the stomatognathic system . undoubtedly , apart from associated effects , such as unpleasant muscle and tooth sensations , limitation of jaw movements , oral and facial pain , and headache ; tooth attrition , fractured cusps or entire teeth , shiny spots on restorations are well - known to be the most frequently occurring effects , in particular , on the dental hard tissue .
moreover , a possible association between bruxism and temporomandibular disorders ( tmds ) is supposed , but the available literature reveals heterogeneous data .
for some past time , by indicating a relationship between bruxism and posture , diverse studies draw the attention to a more extensive context . however , the authors of a recently published review come to the conclusion that a scientific prove to support a cause effect relationship is still missing . to gain information on the clinical interaction among sleep bruxism and several occlusal and functional parameters by... | this study was conducted to verify the results of a preceding retrospective pilot study by means of a prospective controlled investigation including a larger sample size . therefore , the aim of this clinical investigation was to analyze the relationship between sleep bruxism and several functional and occlusal parameters .
the null hypothesis of this study was that there would be no differences among sleep bruxism subjects and non - sleep bruxism controls regarding several functional and occlusal parameters .
fifty - eight sleep bruxism subjects and 31 controls participated in this study .
the diagnosis sleep bruxism was based on clinical criteria of the american academy of sleep medicine .
sixteen functional and occlusal parameters were recorded clinically or from dental study casts .
similar to the recently published retrospective pilot study , with a mean slide of 0.77 mm ( s.d .
, 0.69 mm ) in the sleep bruxism group and a mean slide of 0.4 mm ( s.d
. , 0.57 mm ) in the control group , the evaluation of the mean comparison between the two groups demonstrated a larger slide from centric occlusion to maximum intercuspation in sleep bruxism subjects ( mann whitney u - test ; p=0.008 ) .
however , following bonferroni adjustment , none of the 16 occlusal and functional variables differed significantly between the sleep bruxism subjects and the non - sleep bruxism controls .
the present study shows that the occlusal and functional parameters evaluated do not differ between sleep bruxism subjects and non - sleep bruxism subjects .
however , as the literature reveals a possible association between bruxism and certain subgroups of temporomandibular disorders , it appears advisable to incorporate the individual adaptive capacity of the stomatognathic system into future investigations . |
6,863 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the incidence of acute hepatitis b ( hbv ) is largely reduced during the last 20 years as a result of the use of vaccination and routine blood donor screening 1 and , nowadays , in western countries , the risk of hbv infection is limited to sexual intercourses , intravenous drug users and , in a few cases , in patients undergoing dental therapy , acupuncture , piercing and tattooing 2 - 4 .
most symptomatic patients recover and treatment is not necessary ; when there are signs of severe liver failure , treatment is recommended in order to reduce the risk of progression to fulminant or subfulminant hepatitis and the need of emergency liver transplantation 5 .
a randomised controlled trial on standard interferon versus placebo shows greater hbs seroconversion in patients treated with 10 mu / tiw 6 . with regard to lamivudine , studies with a limited number of patients and case reports are encouraging 7 - 9 while the only randomised controlled study available does not show a significant clinical and biochemical improvement compared to placebo at a dose of 100 mg / daily 10 .
we report our experience on treatment with high dose lamivudine , in a series of 5 patients with severe acute hbv infection .
from november 2006 to march 2007 , 5 patients with acute hbv related hepatitis were admitted to our department : 4 patients were hbeag positive and 1 anti hbe positive .
the diagnosis was based on consistent clinical and virological findings ( medical history , jaundice , hypertransaminasemia , hbsag positivity , igm anti - hbc > 1.20 mu / ml and presence of serum hbv - dna by pcr ) and exclusion of other known causes of liver damage .
all patients underwent ultrasonography guided liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis . the decision to treat
was based on the prolongation of inr together with increasing values of bilirubin and alt .
four patients received lamivudine 200 mg / daily until clearance of serum hbv - dna was reached and then 100 mg / daily until resolution ( clearance of hbsag and appearance of anti - hbs... | treatment for acute hepatitis b is recommended in order to reduce the risk of progression to fulminant hepatitis and the need of olt .
we report our experience on treatment with high dose lamivudine , in patients with severe acute hbv infection .
the diagnosis was based on clinical and virological findings and exclusion of other known causes of liver damage . the decision to treat
was based on the prolongation of inr together with increasing values of bilirubin and alt .
four patients received lamivudine 200 mg / daily until clearance of serum hbv - dna and then 100 mg / daily until clearance of hbsag and appearance of anti - hbs antibodies .
one patient received 100 mg / daily because of chronic renal impairment .
the median period of hospitalization was 13 days , and none of the patients had complications , related either to underlying disease or to therapy .
the complete normalization of serum transaminases and bilirubin occurred on average after 5.5 weeks and 3 weeks respectively .
all patients cleared serum hbv - dna within three months , lost hbeag and hbsag and seroconverted to anti - hbe ; four patients developed anti - hbs at a protective titre .
early antiviral treatment attenuates the clinical and biochemical impairment leading to fast healing and promoting complete recovery . |
6,864 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: expecting a negative outcome from an intervention may give rise to the very occurrence of that outcome .
this phenomenon , called the nocebo effect , can be induced by conditioning , verbal suggestion,1,2 or , as recently shown , by social observation ; with student samples , two studies independently showed that observing a person who experienced pain after a particular intervention could lead to nocebo hyperalgesia when the observer underwent the same procedure.3,4 in one of the studies , four groups observed a model who reported lower pain ratings when a green rather than a red light preceded a pseudo - electric shock , whereas two other groups observed no model.3 participants in all groups received electric shocks .
the aim of the study was to investigate socially induced placebo analgesia with the green light - coupled shocks ; however , when compared to the control groups without observation , a nocebo hyperalgesia to the red light - coupled electric shocks was induced . in the second study ,
female students watched a video model who rated pain as higher when an ointment was applied prior to the application of pressure pain.4 this also resulted in nocebo hyperalgesia in the observer .
very little is known about why some people respond to placebos while others do not;5 the same is true for nocebos . for socially induced nocebo hyperalgesia
, there was an effect of the model s sex ; observing a male model led to a stronger hyperalgesia regardless of the observer s sex.3 empathy might be a factor specifically related to socially induced nocebo hyperalgesia , as it might facilitate observational learning .
however , results thus far are inconsistent.3 studies concerning other factors influencing the nocebo response , as such , are rare .
personality variables , such as suggestibility , imaginative involvement , social desirability , and neuroticism , appear to be unrelated to verbally induced nocebo hyperalgesia.2 the cognitive emotional variables pain anxiety and somatosensory amplification showed no... | purposerecently , it has been shown that nocebo hyperalgesia can be acquired through observational learning .
the aim of this study was to investigate socially induced nocebo hyperalgesia and its relationship with pain catastrophizing , somatic complaints , hypochondriacal concerns , and empathy.participants and methodsninety - seven women ( 43.115.5 years ) were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions .
participants in the nocebo condition ( nc ) watched a video in which a female model displayed more pain when an ointment was applied and less pain when no ointment was applied . in the control condition ( cc ) , the model demonstrated low pain with and without the ointment .
subsequently , all participants received three pressure pain stimuli ( 60 seconds ) on each hand . on one hand ,
the ointment was applied prior to the stimulation .
the order of the stimulation of the fingers ( middle , index , or ring finger ) , the side of ointment application ( left or right hand ) , and the side with which the stimulation began were randomized within each group and balanced across the groups .
depending on the randomization , the pressure pain application started with or without ointment and on the left or right hand .
pain ratings on a numerical rating scale ( 010 ) were collected .
in addition , the participants completed questionnaires regarding body - related cognitive styles and empathy.resultsthere was a significant difference in the pain ratings between the cc and the nc .
the effect of ointment application was also significant , but no interaction between condition and ointment application was found . only in the cc did the nocebo response correlate with hypochondriacal concerns and somatic complaints.conclusionapplication of an ointment as well as the observation of a model demonstrating more pain after a treatment produced elevated pain ratings .
cognitive styles were not related to the socially induced nocebo response , but were related to the nocebo response in the cc . |
6,865 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: comparison of dentine and bone in health and disease research on medical tissues in health and disease ( bone and osteoporosis ) is at least a magnitude more vivid than that in dentistry ( dentine and caries ) .
dental caries was the reason for the establishing the first dental school in baltimore , usa in the mid of 18th century .
this review article is an attempt to shed light on the role of enzymes during dentinogenesis and dentine steady state in health and caries taking models of enzyme functions from bones .
ectoderm covering the stomodeum of an embryo begins to proliferate , giving rise to dental laminae , which occurs in humans during the sixth week in utero .
reciprocal interactions between the ectoderm and mesoderm layers lead to placode formation , some of which develop into tooth germs , containing an enamel organ , dental papilla , and dental follicle .
therefore , teeth are made of ectodermal ( enamel organ ) and ecto - mesenchymal components , containing neural crest - derived cells , which display multipotent capabilities .
dental pulp is externally separated from dentine by odontoblasts and by hhls subodontoblastic cells which are preodontoblasts .
adjacent to this layer , the pulp is rich in collagen fibbers and poor in cells .
then a more internal layer contains progenitor cells and undifferentiated cells , some of which are considered stem cells .
the innermost layer is the core of the dental pulp and comprises the vascular plexus and nerves but some nerve branches and capillary vessels reach the odontoblast layer .
the final differentiation of tooth - forming cells , as well as matrix secretion and mineralization , takes place in the bell - stage .
the junction between the dental papilla and inner enamel epithelium determines the final crown shape and size of a tooth .
odontoblasts secrete a collagenous matrix , called predentine and at the onset mantle dentine , later term being dentine , which is then mineralized during primary dentinogenesis .
primary , secondary and tertiary... | abstractobjectivessearch in pubmed with keywords enzymes , dentinogenesis , and dental caries
revealed only 4 items , but when combined with enzymes , osteogenesis , and osteoporosis as high as 404 items resulted .
dental caries was associated with an order of magnitude fewer studies than the chronic bone disease , osteoporosis .
this observation motivated this review.material and methodsa comprehensive review of the available literature on role of enzymes in dentinogenesis and dental caries was undertaken using medline ( pubmed ) and scopus .
keywords for the search were : enzymes and odontoblasts , enzymes and different forms of dentinogenesis as well as dental caries.resultssearch revealed studies which described odontoblasts harbouring numerous enzymes ( hydrolases , including metalloproteinases , transaminases and dehydrogenases ) during primary dentinogenesis .
alkaline phosphatase activity sharply decreased when odontoblasts turned into quiescent odontoblasts .
tertiary dentinogenesis was characterized first by reactionary dentine formation when alkaline phosphatase was highly reactivated .
then later some of these odontoblasts may die out and be replaced by other progenitor cells of pulpal origin .
this tertiary dentine was called reparative dentine .
pulpal progenitor / stem cells revealed alkaline phosphatase activity in areas encircling inflamed pulp sections .
soft carious dentine revealed high hydrolase , transaminase and dehyrogenase activities that may have originated from invading microbes , saliva or were endogenous .
proteolytic activity was especially demonstrable using histochemical and biochemical means .
specifically , matrix metalloproteases may have originated partly from activated proenzymes of host origin.conclusionsthough dental studies are scanty when compared to bone , the active role of large spectrum of enzymes in healthy and carious dentine was given support . |
6,866 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: termed first by bell in 1970 , cruciate paralysis is a rare neurological disease of the cervicomedullary junction .
cruciate paralysis often presents with bilateral paresis of the upper extremities while sparing the lower extremities .
patients may also present with difficulty breathing , cranial nerve deficits , or a comatose state . while trauma is the most common cause of cruciate paralysis ,
the leading hypothesis involves disruption of the anatomy of the pyramidal decussation at the cervicomedullary junction .
the anatomical decussation extends longitudinally , spanning from the cervicomedullary junction to the c-2 level . within this region ,
the motor tract fibers of the upper extremities cross both ventrally and superiorly to the fibers supplying the lower extremities . by crossing at a spatially different location ,
the independent upper extremity fibers provide a way for lesions to preferentially damage upper extremity fibers while sparing those of the lower extremities .
however , cruciate paralysis is a rare condition with few reported studies ; hence , treatments have been variable and are often without supportive evidence .
in this report , we conducted a systematic literature review from 1966 to the present of patients diagnosed with cruciate paralysis to identify potential prognostic predictors for the outcome . using medline and pubmed central , a comprehensive search for all papers under mesh and keyword term cruciate paralysis
additional information and cases were obtained through google and google scholar , and appropriate search of relevant sources was performed using the same keywords .
a case was included if it met the following criteria : ( 1 ) the paper under review demonstrated appropriate signs and symptoms of cruciate paralysis as defined above ; ( 2 ) a mechanism of injury was noted ; ( 3 ) the type of intervention and treatment was noted ; and ( 4 ) a follow - up examination was documented .
cases with patients presenting in a comatose state were excluded along with papers... | objective : cruciate paralysis is a rare , poorly understood condition of the upper craniovertebral junction that allows for selective paralysis of the upper extremities while sparing the lower extremities . reported cases are few and best treatment practices remain up for debate .
the purpose of this study was to conduct a systemic literature review in an attempt to identify prognostic predictors and outcome trends associated with cases previously reported in the literature.materials and methods : we conducted a systematic literature review for all cases using the term cruciate paralysis , reviewing a total of 37 reported cases .
all outcomes were assigned a numerical value based on examination at the last follow - up .
these numerical values were further analyzed and tested for statistical significance.results:of the 37 cases , 78.4% were of traumatic causes .
of these , there were considerably worse outcomes associated with patients over the age of 65 years ( p < 0.001 ) .
those patients undergoing surgical treatment showed potentially worse outcomes , with a p value approaching significance at p = 0.08.conclusion:numerous cases of trauma - associated cruciate paralysis have been reported in the literature ; however , there remains a strong need for further study of the condition .
while certain risk factors can be elicited from currently reported studies , insignificant data exist to make any sound conclusion concerning whether surgical intervention is always the best method of treatment . |
6,867 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: chronic chylous ascites , associated with malignant obstructions in the lymphatic channel , does not usually cause acute abdominal pain .
that is , chyle extravasation into the peritoneal cavity is rarely associated with the sudden development of peritonitis ( 1 ) .
we present a case of acute chylous peritonitis in a patient with advanced gastric carcinoma who presented with signs and symptoms of peritonitis caused by ovarian torsion .
the department of surgery was consulted for the finding of milky peritoneal fluid in a 41-yr - old female undergoing a complete abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salphingo - oophorectomy ( tah - bso ) by a gynecologist at our institution .
the patient had been admitted to the yonsei university medical center , seoul , korea , for chemotherapy due to advanced gastric carcinoma . a previous computed tomography ( ct ) scan had shown bilateral metastatic ovarian tumors . during her stay ,
a physical examination revealed direct tenderness to palpation , rebound tenderness , and guarding ; she was also noted to have a palpable left supraclavicular node .
a chest radiography was normal ; an emergent abdominal pelvic ct scan showed increased bilateral ovarian tumors with minimal intraperitoneal fluid collection ( fig .
the initial blood laboratory results showed a total leukocyte count of 3,600/l with 58% neutrophils , hb 12.8 g / dl , platelet count 245,000/l , na 143 mm / l , k 3.9 mm / l , cl 103 mm / l , bun 13.6 mg / dl , creatinine 0.9 mg / dl , glucose 116 mg / dl , ast 20 iu / l , alt 14 iu / l , and total bilirubin 0.6 mg / dl . based on the physical examination and ct findings , peritonitis caused by ovarian torsion was strongly suspected , leading a gynecologist to perform an exploratory laparotomy on an emergency basis . in the operative field ,
however , a minimal to moderate amount of milky peritoneal fluid was observed in the pelvic cavity and along the right paracolic gutter .
after the tah - bso , the patient was evaluated at the department of surgery for chylous... | the extravasation of chyle into the peritoneal space usually does not accompany an abrupt onset of abdominal pain with symptoms and signs of peritonitis .
the rarity of this condition fails to reach preoperative diagnosis prior to laparotomy . here
, we introduce a case of chylous ascites that presented with acute abdominal pain mimicking peritonitis caused by ovarian torsion in a 41-yr - old female patient with advanced gastric carcinoma . an emergency exploratory laparotomy was performed but revealed no evidence of ovarian torsion .
only chylous ascites was discovered in the operative field .
she underwent a complete abdominal hysterectomy and salphingo - oophorectomy . only saline irrigation and suction - up
were performed for the chylous ascites .
the postoperative course was uneventful .
her bowel movement was restored within 1 week .
she was allowed only a fat - free diet , and no evidence of re - occurrence of ascites was noted on clinical observation .
she now remains under consideration for additional chemotherapy . |
6,868 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the apelin peptides activate the class a rhodopsin - like g - protein - coupled receptor ( gpcr ) named apj.(1 ) apelinapj signaling has been demonstrated within the cardiovascular system , central nervous system , and adipoinsular axis ( as previously reviewed(2 ) ) , among other physiological settings .
apelin is an extremely potent inotropic agent , increasing muscle contractility with a half - maximal effective concentration of 33
pmol / l in rat heart.(3 ) upregulation of apelin is observed in conjunction with an elevated body mass index,(4 ) and plasma levels of apelin are increased during heart failure.(5 ) furthermore , apelin inhibits human immunodeficiency virus fusion to host cells,(6 ) and apelin has been shown to induce angiogenesis during tumor formation . as a whole , these functions have made the apelinapj system popular as a proposed therapeutic target .
apelin is produced as a 77 amino acid preproprotein that is cleaved into a variety of bioactive forms from 13 to 36 residues in length , each of which retain the c - terminus of the precursor.(11 ) the 12 c - terminal residues of apelin constitute the core region essential for apelin function .
our recent nmr studies on apelin-17 suggest that this core region is only moderately structured in solution at physiological temperature , but that binding to apj may lead to more defined structuring.(15 ) sargent and schwyzer(16 ) first formulated the membrane catalysis hypothesis , stating that a small peptide first interacts with the target cell plasma membrane before binding to and activating its target receptor .
the membrane is proposed to act as a receptorligand catalyst by increasing the local concentration of the ligand , improving the probability of diffusional collision between the receptor and ligand , and/or by inducing a conformational change in the peptide to increase the receptor - binding energetics .
this is supported by the fact that many peptide hormones bind to membranes or micelles and in some cases have been shown to adopt a... | apelin is the peptidic ligand for the g - protein - coupled receptor apj .
the apelinapj system is important in cardiovascular regulation , fluid homeostasis , and angiogenesis , among other roles . in this study
, we investigate interactions between apelin and membrane - mimetic micelles of the detergents sodium dodecyl sulfate ( sds ) , dodecylphosphocholine ( dpc ) , and 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxy - sn - glycero-3-[phospho - rac-(1-glycerol ) ] ( lppg ) .
far - ultraviolet circular dichroism spectropolarimetry and diffusion - ordered spectroscopy indicate that apelin peptides bind to micelles of the anionic detergents sds and lppg much more favorably than to zwitterionic dpc micelles .
nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy allowed full characterization of the interactions of apelin-17 with sds micelles .
titration with paramagnetic agents and structural determination of apelin-17 in sds indicate that r6k12 is highly structured , with r6l9 directly interacting with headgroups of the micelle .
type i -turns are initiated between r6 and l9 , and a well - defined type iv -turn is initiated at s10 . furthermore , binding of apelin-17 to sds micelles causes structuring of m15-f17 , with no evidence for direct binding of this region to the micelles .
these results are placed into the context of the membrane catalysis hypothesis for peptidereceptor binding , and a hypothetical mechanism of apj binding and activation by apelin is advanced . |
6,869 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: we came across a neonate who presented with repeated chest infections and respiratory distress . on evaluation by ct
a full term female baby was born after an uneventful pregnancy . at 1 month of age ,
a plain radiograph of the chest showed increased opacification of the right lung with reduced lung volume , air bronchograms , and mild compensatory hyperinflation of the left lung [ figure 1 ] . following this , a computed tomography ( ct ) scan
was performed , which showed hypoplasia of the right lung with multiple air bronchograms . in the mediastinum ,
two air - filled tubes were visualized , that is , trachea and esophagus [ figure 2a ] . only left mainstem bronchus was visualized at the tracheal bifurcation .
the right mainstem bronchus originated from distal esophagus and coursed superiorly to aerate the right lung [ figure 2b ] .
nasogastric tube was inserted that delineated the retracted air filled esophagus on the right side of the trachea .
dilute barium was slowly injected through the nasogastric tube , which established the diagnosis of bronchoesophageal communication by opacifying the bronchial tree on the right side [ figure 3 ] .
imaging advances such as volume rendered ct and virtual bronchoscopy showed anomalous origin of the right mainstem bronchus from the esophagus [ figure 4a ] and only one opening at the tracheal bifurcation [ figure 4b ] .
chest radiograph shows increased opacification of right lung with air bronchograms , mediastinal shift , and herniation of the contralateral lung towards right ( a ) axial image shows two closely placed air - filled tubes esophagus ( small arrow ) and trachea ( large arrow ) in the mediastinum .
( b ) coronal reformatted image depicts the origin of right the mainstem bronchus(small arrow ) from distal esophagus ( large arrow ) with associated collapse - consolidation of the right lung dilute barium has entered the right bronchial tree , thus , establishing the bronchoesophageal communication ( a ) volume rendered computed tomography scan shows the... | we report a rare case of esophageal lung in a neonate who presented with repeated chest infections and respiratory distress .
chest radiograph revealed increased opacification of the right lung with reduced lung volume and air bronchograms .
further evaluation with computed tomography ( ct ) showed the presence of only left mainstem bronchus at the tracheal bifurcation .
right mainstem bronchus originated from distal esophagus and aerated the right lung .
nasogastric tube was inserted into the stomach with injection of small amount of dilute barium through it , which established the communication of right mainstem bronchus with esophagus .
advanced ct scan imaging by virtual bronchoscopy and volume rendering further delineated the anatomical abnormality precisely prior to surgery .
surgical findings confirmed the diagnosis . |
6,870 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: we present the case of a 60-year - old female with a history of polycythemia , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( copd ) on home oxygen , and obesity who presented to the emergency room complaining of mild dyspnea on exertion that had been experienced for 3 days .
she denied any medical history , including autoimmune disease , connective tissue disorders , or vasculitis .
as part of her general workup in the emergency department , she was found to have elevated troponin levels at 0.182 ng / ml ( 0.00.045 ng / ml ) .
ecg revealed sinus tachycardia ; there were no st segment changes suggestive of ischemia ( fig .
the patient was admitted to the floor and managed as a possible case of copd exacerbation .
twelve - lead ekg at the time of emergency department presentation with sinus tachycardia and no acute st segment changes .
a nuclear stress test was performed that revealed a large inferior wall reversible defect with associated inferior wall hypokinesis .
coronary angiography of the right coronary showed a spontaneous dissection throughout the mid - right coronary artery ( fig .
due to poor distal thrombolysis in myocardial infarction ( timi ) 1 flow , it was decided to stent the lesion .
a prowater wire was steered toward the mid - right coronary artery which initially went into the false lumen ; we then pulled the wire back and redirected it to the true lumen which was confirmed by the ability to advance the wire into the distal vessel .
follow - up angiography showed excellent results with complete tacking of the dissection plane and excellent timi 3 flow at the end of the procedure ( fig .
3 ) . coronary angiography showing a dissection plane throughout the mid - right coronary artery .
follow - up angiography showing complete tacking of the dissection plane and timi 3 flow .
while a few of the reported cases have been called idiopathic , a predisposed arterial disease or underlying cause has been identified in most of the cases ( 3 ) .
intimal tear or bleeding of vasa vasorum with intramedial... | spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a poorly understood phenomenon that usually affects women during pregnancy or the immediate post - partum period .
we present the case of a 60-year - old female with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who presented with vague complaints of shortness of breath , dizziness , and weakness with a mildly elevated troponin .
she denied any anginal symptoms .
as part of her initial workup , a nuclear stress test revealed inferior wall reversible changes .
coronary angiography revealed spontaneous right coronary artery dissection which was treated with a drug - eluting stent . |
6,871 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: invasive fungal infections are a major problem in the neonatal intensive care unit ( nicu ) .
candida species are as the fourth most common cause of late - onset infections in the neonatal intensive care unit ( nicu ) and are responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality .
about 12% of all neonatal infections are due to candida species [ 24 ] ; cases increased 10-fold between 1981 and 1995 [ 5 , 6 ] .
reported mortality rates for infants with invasive neonatal candidiasis are between 25 and 50% , compared to an overall mortality of 4.7% for all nicu admissions .
major risk factors associated with invasive neonatal candidiasis include extreme prematurity , prolonged central venous catheterization , and prolonged use of broad - spectrum antibacterial agents [ 712 ] .
blood cultures are still considered as the gold standard for the diagnosis of invasive neonatal candidiasis . however , when compared with bacterial pathogens , their sensitivity is less than ideal . in a large report of autopsy - proven invasive candidiasis , the majority of cases lacked a positive blood culture . in a cohort of 41 patients with hematologic malignancies and autopsy - proven candidiasis , 28% of those who had single - organ involvement had a previous positive blood culture . when at least 3 organs were found to be infected in postmortem examination ,
the blood volumes necessary to optimize organism recovery are not easily attainable in neonates [ 15 , 16 ] .
therefore , relying solely in blood cultures could underestimate the true incidence of invasive neonatal candidiasis .
the absence of a fungal pathogen isolated in a blood culture may lead to underdiagnosis of invasive neonatal candidiasis , and in turn , to a delay in treatment institution , which could contribute to the high mortality observed in previous studies [ 1 , 2 , 9 ] .
we assessed for the effect of delayed recognition and treatment of invasive neonatal candidiasis and for risk factors associated with mortality in a tertiary care nicu over the five - year... | objective / methods .
to determine the outcomes of invasive neonatal candidiasis before institution of routine antifungal prophylaxis , we conducted a retrospective review of cases of invasive candidiasis in newborns in a referral - based neonatal intensive care unit located in a single tertiary academic center between january 1998 and december 2002 .
results .
sixty - three newborns with invasive neonatal candidiasis were identified .
overall mortality rate was 35% .
virtually every infant had a central venous catheter ( cvc ) , required mechanical ventilation and previous administration of antibacterial agents .
delayed institution of antifungal therapy was associated with increased mortality . in addition ,
length of hospitalization , duration of prior antibacterial therapy , mechanical ventilation , and cvc use , as well as evidence of end - organ disease , were associated with an adverse outcome .
conclusions .
reliance on available laboratory tools in cases of invasive neonatal candidiasis can result in delayed diagnosis and increased mortality .
a risk - factor - based approach to empirical treatment could be justified in this setting . |
6,872 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: trabeculectomy is a surgical glaucoma procedure that aims to lower the intraocular pressure ( iop ) by creating a fistula for aqueous drainage from the anterior chamber to the subtenon space .
lower iop will prevent further insult to the optic nerve and hence further visual field loss .
mitomycin c ( mmc ) is commonly used as adjunctive treatment in trabeculectomy in order to increase the survival of filtering bleb .
however , mmc also increases the incidence of bleb leak . bleb leakage that occurs within the first 1 month following trabeculectomy
is considered an early postoperative leak , and it is frequently encountered as an unfortunate complication.1 its incidence varies from 0% to 30%.2 the bleb leak may be self - limiting or complicated with a shallow and flat anterior chamber , cataract formation , choroidal detachment , and hypotony maculopathy.3 risk of bleb - related infection increases up to 26-fold following bleb leakage.4 conservative measures and medical approaches are practiced prior to consideration of surgical retreatment in bleb leak cases .
these include pressure patching , bandage soft contact lens , collagen shield , sclera shell tamponade , aqueous suppressants , compression suture , conjunctiva suturing , trichloroacetic acid , and autologous blood injection.5 for decades , surgical repair or wound revision has been a gold standard in the management of leaking bleb . the application of tissue adhesive has been widely accepted as a suture alternative in recent times .
the use of cyanoacrylate tissue glue ( catg ) has been successfully reported in ophthalmology literatures , ranging from sealing corneal perforations to closure of retinal breaks and reattachment of retina in retinal detachment cases.6 cyanoacrylate belongs to a family of polymers .
the liquid form of cyanoacrylate consists of monomers of cyanoacrylate molecules , with clear colorless appearance and strong odor .
the ester form of cyanoacrylate , n - butyl-2-cyanoacrylate , is one of the adhesive components that have been... | we demonstrated a noninvasive management of early bleb leak following trabeculectomy using cyanoacrylate tissue glue ( catg ) .
three patients who underwent augmented trabeculectomy with mitomycin c with early bleb leak between january 2009 and june 2010 were reviewed .
case 1 and case 2 exhibited bleb leak on postoperative day 1 and case 3 showed leak on follow - up at postoperative day 7 .
case 1 was successfully sealed with catg at postoperative day 3 , after failed pressure padding and bandage contact lens .
case 2 was successfully sealed with catg at postoperative day 3 , after failed pressure padding and conjunctiva flap resuturing . in case 3 ,
the leaking conjunctival flap was managed with combined techniques of resuturing and applying catg at postoperative day 9 , after failed pressure padding . during leakage ,
the intraocular pressure was low ( 68 mmhg ) in all three cases , with shallow anterior chamber depth and absence of other complications such as choroidal detachment , hypotony maculopathy , or endophthalmitis .
foreign body sensation was the main complaint following the procedure .
no clinical allergy reaction was documented .
catg may serve as a potential adjunctive and effective method in the management of posttrabeculectomy early bleb leak . |
6,873 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: understanding the toxicity of nanomaterials and nano - enabled products is important for human and environmental health and safety as well as public acceptance .
the scientific literature is a primary source of information about nanomaterial toxicology and thus plays a role in the emerging dialogue about the safety of nano - enabled products .
there have been several recent reviews , reports , and assessments on the current state and/or challenges of determining the toxicology of nanomaterials ( buzea et al .
2007 ; fischer and chan 2007 ; hutchison 2008 ; lubick 2008 ; maynard et al . 2006 ; nel et al .
most agree that there has been a lack of systematic approaches to assessing the toxicology of nanomaterials and that there is a need for standard methodologies to examine the human health and environmental implications of novel nanomaterial characteristics .
hutchison ( 2008 ) ; fischer and chan ( 2007 ) argue for characterization of the entire nanomaterial life - cycle , paying attention to both exposure pathway and final fate .
lubick ( 2008 ) also points to a deluge of papers in a broad range of journals that make it difficult to remain informed about the current toxicological results . extending this line of concern for the state of nanotoxicology , we employed bibliometric techniques to characterize the prevalence and distribution of the current scientific literature , asking the following questions : what is the relative distribution of published nanotoxicological research across the areas of human health and the environment?within each of these research domains , what emphases have emerged thus far?which materials and exposure pathways have been researched and which have not?which stages of the nanomaterial life - cycle
have been addressed in toxicological research ? what is the relative distribution of published nanotoxicological research across the areas of human health and the environment ? within each of these research domains , what emphases have emerged thus far ?
which stages of the... | understanding the toxicity of nanomaterials and nano - enabled products is important for human and environmental health and safety as well as public acceptance . assessing
the state of knowledge about nanotoxicology is an important step in promoting comprehensive understanding of the health and environmental implications of these new materials . to this end
, we employed bibliometric techniques to characterize the prevalence and distribution of the current scientific literature .
we found that the nano - toxicological literature is dispersed across a range of disciplines and sub - fields ; focused on in vitro testing ; often does not specify an exposure pathway ; and tends to emphasize acute toxicity and mortality rather than chronic exposure and morbidity .
finally , there is very little research on consumer products , particularly on their environmental fate , and most research is on the toxicity of basic nanomaterials .
the implications for toxicologists , regulators and social scientists studying nanotechnology and society are discussed . |
6,874 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: genomics and related fields are becoming increasingly relevant in clinical practice for a wide variety of settings , including the deployment of next generation sequencing in specific scenarios .
however , the arrival of genomics to the bedside in its current state represents only the initial part of the translational highway .
genomic research falls on a continuum of 4 translational phases beyond initial discovery ( t0 ) : t1 , developing candidate health applications ; t2 , evaluating candidate health applications and developing evidence - based recommendations ; t3 , integrating evidence - based recommendations into care and prevention ; and t4 , assessing health outcomes and population impact .
a more realistic expectation would be that interventions of putative value will enter clinical practice and only over time will enough evidence be accumulated to support evidence - based guidelines .
research beyond bench to bedside ( t2t4 ) supports the evaluation of the clinical validity and utility of promising applications , as well as their comparative effectiveness and implementation and outcomes research to achieve population health benefits .
the history of medicine teaches us that premature implementation of promising new technologies without meeting an evidentiary threshold can lead to potential harms and increasing healthcare costs . yet ,
a previous pubmed analysis found that less than 1% of the published literature on human genomics was related to phases t2 or beyond .
this trend follows closely the current level of funding in human genomics research by the national cancer institute ( only 2% of human genomics research funding goes to t2 or beyond ) . since 2012
, the office of public health genomics , in collaboration with the national cancer institute , has been regularly tracking the translational genomics research scientific literature to develop a current baseline for the field and identify opportunities , gaps and challenges in genomic medicine .
we briefly summarize the one year data herein ,... | the dizzying pace of genomic discoveries is leading to an increasing number of clinical applications .
however , very little translational research is ongoing beyond bench to bedside to assess validity , utility , implementation and outcomes of such applications . here
we report cross sectional results of ongoing horizon scanning of translational genomic research conducted between may 16 , 2012 and may 15 , 2013 . based on a weekly , systematic query of pubmed
, we created a curated set of 505 beyond bench - to - bedside research publications , including 312 original research articles , 123 systematic and other reviews , 38 clinical guidelines , policies and recommendations , and 32 papers describing tools , decision support and educational materials .
most papers ( 62% ) addressed a specific genomic test or other health application ; almost half of these ( n=180 ) were related to cancer .
we estimate that these publications account for 0.5% of reported human genomics and genetics research during the same time .
these data provide baseline information to track the evolving knowledge base and gaps in genomic medicine .
continuous horizon scanning is crucial for an evidence - based translation of genomic discoveries into improved health care and disease prevention . |
6,875 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: although hemorrhage into the thyroid gland is well recognized , massive bleeding into the thyroid gland after trauma is rare . given the anatomical location of the thyroid gland and the potential for airway compromise secondary to external compression , this is an issue that emergency physicians ( eps ) must not overlook .
we report the case of a patient presenting to the emergency department ( ed ) with a spontaneously expanding neck hematoma , approximately 24 h after a seemingly benign fall .
c , a 75-year - old female , had been experiencing 4 days of dizziness before sustaining an unwitnessed syncopal episode at home after getting up from bed .
she called the emergency medical services ( ems ) , which transported her to a local ed . except for a mild bradyarrhythmia , the patient was stable and was transferred to our hospital ed for further evaluation .
she was known for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo ( bppv ) , atrial fibrillation and hypertension .
on further questioning , the patient remembered experiencing vertigo prior to the fall . in the ed , she continued to complain of vertigo , nausea , mild headache and tinnitus .
she had one episode of vomiting while in the ed , which was managed with 50 mg of dimenhydrinate intravenously .
her vital signs included a blood pressure of 175/85 , an irregular pulse of approximately 75 and an oxygen saturation of 96% with a respiratory rate of 14 .
her physical exam , including a complete musculoskeletal exam , was unremarkable except for bilateral chronic pedal edema .
an electrocardiogram revealed atrial fibrillation with a ventricular rate of 66 to 75 beats per minute .
laboratory tests revealed a hemoglobin of 142 g / l , a white blood cell count 10.3 10/l , a platelet count of 185 10/l and a blood glucose of 8.6 mmol / l ( all within normal limits ) .
the patient was given a diagnosis of fall secondary to bppv , and was discharged home asymptomatic and in stable condition after a 6-h observation period .
she was instructed to return to the... | a rare event of a fall causing delayed intrathyroidal hematoma and respiratory distress is reported here .
a 75-year - old woman with symptoms of vertigo causing syncope and fall 24 h earlier was seen and discharged from our emergency department after an unremarkable physical exam and 6-h observation period . within 3 h of discharge
, the patient was transported back by emergency medical services with an enlarging neck mass and subjective respiratory distress .
ct scan demonstrated a large , expanding hematoma , and the patient underwent an emergency hemithyroidectomy .
hrtle cell adenoma was found on pathologic specimen examination .
a review of the literature of similar cases is presented , emphasizing the notion that concurrent thyroid pathology is a risk factor for airway compromise after seemingly benign trauma and that airway compromise can present in a delayed fashion . |
6,876 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: extracellular vesicles have received a great deal of attention during the last decade as a novel approach to detect diseases as messengers or mediators of disease pathophysiology .
the main classes of extracellular vesicles generally include exosomes , microvesicles / microparticles ( mps ) , and apoptotic bodies , which are differentiated by their biogenesis and secretion mechanisms .
exosomes are released by endocytosis following intracellular assembly in multivesicular bodies that contain intraluminal vesicles .
mps are shed from the plasma membrane through direct outward budding , and they are larger than exosomes ( 1002,000 nm ) .
mps are enriched in phosphatidylserine and contain a membrane component that is similar to that of the parent cell membrane.1 apoptotic bodies are 14 m in diameter and are released from the plasma membrane as blebs of cells undergo apoptosis .
apoptotic bodies may contain dna fragments , noncoding rnas , and cell organelles.2 several cell types ( such as macrophages , platelets , endothelial cells , granulocytes , monocytes , lymphocytes ) release mps following chemical ( cytokines , thrombin , and endotoxin ) , physical ( shear stress and hypoxia ) , and apoptotic stimuli . mps play an active role in the initiation and amplification of the coagulation cascade , and a pivotal role has been proposed for them in thrombosis , propagating inflammation , modulating vascular tone , angiogenesis , stem cell engraftment , and tumor metastasis.3 mps have been isolated from different biological fluids including plasma,4 serum,5 cerebrospinal fluid,6 bronchoalveolar lavage,7 and synovial fluid.8 the phenotype of circulating mps and , consequently , their origin are different in various pathological conditions , and detection of their cellular origin may serve as a predictor or marker of diseases.9 mps are more than just a miniature version of the specific cell of origin , although the antigens found on the surface of mps and their cargo resemble those of their parental cells ( eg ,... | backgroundmicroparticles ( mps ) are small membrane vesicles of 0.11 m which are released by cells following chemical , physical , and apoptotic stimuli . mps represent more than a miniature version of the cell .
their composition and function depend not only on cellular origin , but also on stimuli .
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( copd ) is a lung disease characterized by nearly irreversible lung destruction which results in airway limitation.purposewe investigated the presence and source of mps in sputum of copd patients to evaluate if changes in mp number and origin may reflect the pathophysiological conditions of disease and may serve as potential biomarkers for diagnostic and prognostic use.methodsinduced sputum samples were collected from 18 male subjects and liquefied with sputasol .
mps obtained were immunolabeled for leukocyte ( cd11a ) , granulocyte ( cd66b ) , monocyte - macrophage ( cd11b ) , platelets and megakaryocytic cells ( cd41 ) , endothelial cells ( cd31 ) , and red blood cells ( cd235ab ) and analyzed by cytofluorimetry.resultsthere was a negative correlation between cd31-mps and forced expiratory volume in 1 second ( r=53 , p<0.05 ) and cd66b - mp level was correlated with worse performance index of copd such as the body mass index airflow obstruction , dyspnea , and exercise capacity ( bode ) ; they were negatively correlated with 6-minute walking test : 0.65 and 0.64 , respectively ( p<0.05 ) .
cd235ab - mps showed a negative correlation with body mass index ( r=0.86 , p<0.05 ) , while there was a positive correlation with dyspnea index ( r=0.91 , p<0.05).conclusionthe main finding of this study was that mps were detected in the sputum of patients affected by copd .
the phenotype of some of them was related to the main copd parameters .
these results suggest that mps could be implicated in the pathogenesis of copd . |
6,877 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: strategies to abrogate tgf- effects provide promising antifibrotic results , however , in vivo data regarding smad activation during fibrogenesis are scarce .
methods : here , liver fibrosis was assessed subsequent to bile duct ligation by determining liver enzymes in serum and collagen deposition in liver tissue .
activated hepatic stellate cells were identified by immunohistochemistry and immunoblots for alpha smooth muscle actin .
rtpcr for smad4 and smad7 was conducted with total rna and northern blot analysis for smad7 with mrna .
results : cholestasis induces tgf- signaling via smad3 in vivo , whereas smad2 phosphorylation was only marginally increased .
, negative feedback regulation of tgf- signaling by increased smad7 expression in activated hepatic stellate cells occurs , however does not interfere with fibrogenesis . | abstractbackground / aims : profibrogenic tgf- signaling in hepatic stellate cells is modulated during transdifferentiation .
strategies to abrogate tgf- effects provide promising antifibrotic results , however , in vivo data regarding smad activation during fibrogenesis are scarce .
methods : here , liver fibrosis was assessed subsequent to bile duct ligation by determining liver enzymes in serum and collagen deposition in liver tissue .
activated hepatic stellate cells were identified by immunohistochemistry and immunoblots for alpha smooth muscle actin .
cellular localization of smad3 and smad7 proteins was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry .
rtpcr for smad4 and smad7 was conducted with total rna and northern blot analysis for smad7 with mrna .
whole liver lysates were prepared to detect smad2/3/4 and phospho- smad2/3 by western blotting .
results : cholestasis induces tgf- signaling via smad3 in vivo , whereas smad2 phosphorylation was only marginally increased .
smad4 expression levels were unchanged .
smad7 expression was continuously increasing with duration of cholestasis .
hepatocytes of fibrotic lesions exhibited nuclear staining smad3 .
in contrast to this , smad7 expression was localized to activated hepatic stellate cells .
conclusions : hepatocytes of damaged liver tissue display increased tgf- signaling via smad3 . further , negative feedback regulation of tgf- signaling by increased smad7 expression in activated hepatic stellate cells occurs , however does not interfere with fibrogenesis . |
6,878 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: more than half of the world 's population in approximately 100 countries is exposed to malaria .
iran is situated in the eastern mediterranean region , where about 45% of the population live with the risk of both falciparum and vivax malaria .
countries of this region are situated in either afrotropical ( such as somalia , sudan ) , oriental ( such as pakistan , south - eastern iran , part of afghanistan ) or palearctic ( such as turkmenistan , uzbekistan , tajikistan ) eco - epidemiological zones regarding malaria .
the malaria endemic areas of iran are located in the south - eastern part of the country , bordered in the south by the persian gulf and the gulf of oman , and to the east by afghanistan and pakistan .
the south - eastern corner of iran consists of the sistan and bluchistan province , the hormozgan province and the tropical part of kerman province with a combined population of approximately 3 million and is considered to be " refractory malaria region " .
annual parasite incidence ( api ) was reported to be 8.74 per 1,000 population . in this part of the country
, malaria is of the oriental type , hence more difficult to control than elsewhere in iran .
inherent problems are the drug resistance of p. falciparum and the vector resistance to insecticides , complicated by an increasing rate of imported malaria , mostly p. falciparum , from afghanistan and , to a lesser extent , from pakistan .
parasite and insecticide resistance , aggravated by war and socio - economic factors have limited the possibilities for disease control . a large proportion of the malaria cases diagnosed in the south - eastern part of iran , and an increased risk of local transmission has been observed in these regions .
delayed or missed diagnosis of falciparum malaria increases the risk of complicated or severe disease , which may be fatal especially in non - immunes .
p. falciparum from much of the world , including iran , is largely chloroquine resistant and thus would not be eradicated by the standard treatment used for... | backgroundrapid diagnosis and correct treatment of cases are the main objectives of control programs in malaria - endemic areas.methods and resultsto evaluate these criteria and in a comparative study , blood specimens were collected from 120 volunteers seeking care at the malaria health center in chahbahar district .
one hundred and seven out of 120 giemsa - stained slides were positive for malaria parasites by microscopy .
eighty - four ( 70% ) and 20 ( 16.7% ) were identified as having only plasmodium vivax and plasmodium falciparum infections , respectively , while only 3 ( 2.5% ) were interpreted as having mixed p. vivax - p .
falciparum infections.the target dna sequence of the 18s small sub - unit ribosomal rna ( ssrrna ) gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) and used for the diagnosis of malaria in south - eastern iran .
one hundred twenty blood samples were submitted and the results were compared to those of routine microscopy .
the sensitivity of pcr for detection of p. vivax and p. falciparum malaria was higher than that of microscopy : nested pcr detected 31 more mixed infections than microscopy and parasite positive reactions in 9 out of the 13 microscopically negative samples .
the results also confirmed the presence of p. vivax and p. falciparum.conclusionsthese results suggest that , in places where transmission of both p. vivax and p. falciparum occurs , nested pcr detection of malaria parasites can be a very useful complement to microscopical diagnosis . |
6,879 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac dysrhythmia , with a prevalence cited in the literature of 10% in individuals over the age of 80 [ 1 , 2 ] .
fibrillatory conduction of the atria results in blood stasis , formation of thrombotic clots , and an increased risk of thromboembolic events , such as stroke .
studies have shown that oral anticoagulant therapy , such as warfarin , can help reduce the risk of thromboembolic events by up to 60% compared to those receiving no treatment .
warfarin has a narrow therapeutic range and can also be associated with hemorrhagic side effects , including a known increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and hemorrhagic stroke .
regular monitoring of patients on warfarin to maintain levels within therapeutic range is necessary to decrease the incidence of such side effects .
this need for continuous monitoring , along with recommendations for an increasing number of patients on warfarin therapy , has led to the development of alternative models for monitoring oral anticoagulant therapy .
traditionally , oral anticoagulation therapy has been monitored by specialists or directly by family physicians , as was the case at the south east toronto family health team ( setfht ) , a community based academic teaching unit . with the development of multidisciplinary family health teams ( fhts ) in ontario , canada , expanding roles for nonphysician health care providers in patient care have occurred .
a recent study found nurse - led inr monitoring of inr to be equally effective as physician monitoring . in july 2007 , setfht changed its delivery of oral anticoagulation monitoring from individual physician based to a centralized model in which a pharmacist followed the blood testing results and managed all patients in the clinic who were taking warfarin . in may 2008 ,
the model was changed to a weekly pharmacist - led point - of - care ( poc ) inr clinic , where patients would come for an appointment with the pharmacist , have a poc inr done on site using the coagucheck xs... | purpose . monitoring patients ' international normalized ratio ( inr ) within a family medicine setting can be challenging .
novel methods of doing this effectively and in a timely manner are important for patient care .
the purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a pharmacist - led point - of - care ( poc ) inr clinic .
methods . at a community - based academic family health team in toronto , canada , charts of patients with atrial fibrillation managed by a pharmacist with usual care ( bloodtesting at lab and pharmacist
follow up of inr by phone ) from february 2008 to april 2008 were compared with charts of patients attending a weekly poc inr clinic from february 2010 to april 2010 .
time in therapeutic range ( ttr ) was measured for both groups .
results .
119 patient charts were reviewed and 114 had ttr calculated . after excluding patients with planned inconsistent coumadin use ( 20 ) , such as initiating coumadin treatment or stopping for a surgical procedure , the mean ttr increased from 64.41% to 77.09% with the implementation of the poc clinic .
this was a statistically significant difference of 12.68% ( ci : 1.18 , 24.18 ; p = 0.03 ) .
conclusion .
a pharmacist - led poc - inr clinic improves control of anticoagulation therapy in patients receiving warfarin and should be considered for implementation in other family medicine settings . |
6,880 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: malignant melanoma is a neoplastic disorder which results from the malignant transformation of natural melanocytes . during the neonatal period ,
these parts include the skin , meninges , mucous membranes , upper esophagus and the eyes . in all of these areas
its involvement is less than 3% of all malignant melanomas and constitutes less than 1% of all tumors of the anorectal area .
however , the most common site for development of melanoma in the alimentary tract is the anorectal area . the first case of this disease
the most important factor in predicting survival is the disease stage at the time of diagnosis .
invasive methods such as abdominoperineal resection ( apr ) and bilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy are less suggested today due to the low survival rate of this condition . nowadays , in cases in which adequate margin is available , less invasive techniques besides preserving the sphincter are more commonly recommended . in the various studies
performed so far , the overall survival rate of the patients treated with these two methods did not show any significant difference .
nevertheless , it seems that the local control in patients treated with the apr surgical method is better and the recurrence rate is lower .
the records of anorectal melanoma cases referred to omid oncology center , mashhad , iran , from 2001 to 2011 were extracted and studied .
all required data were gathered from the files and their present general condition was recorded by calling each and every patient by phone .
one patient had been referred with complaints of pain in the perineal area and the rest with the chief complaint of rectorrhagia . in two patients ,
melanoma had been diagnosed with hemorrhoids and the melanomas were confirmed after surgery and pathology assessment . in our study ,
two cases had been referred with initial diagnosis of lymphoma which in complementary studies with immunohistochemistry ( ihc ) and examining the tissue sample following surgery , the diagnosis of melanoma had confirmed ( figure 1 , 2 )... | backgroundanorectal melanoma is one of the rare but significant malignancies of the anorectal area .
this malignancy currently accounts for 1% of all types of melanoma and less than 1% of all the anorectal area malignancies .
very rare cases of this disease have been reported worldwide.anorectal melanoma is mostly diagnosed while treating other benign conditions of this area such as hemorrhoids with conventional modalities .
its treatment of choice has always been a controversial issue.methodsin this study , clinical pathology and outcome of 7 cases with anorectal melanoma referred to omid oncology teaching hospital during 2001 - 2011 were assessed.resultsout of seven cases , 2 patients had been diagnosed with hemorrhoids and undergone surgery and 2 other cases had been referred with the primary diagnosis of lymphoma .
initially , only in 3 cases melanoma was diagnosed in clinicopathology setting .
three cases of patients had distant metastases to the liver , lungs , omentum and mesentery , while the other 4 patients had advanced local disease .
no patient had been diagnosed in the primary stages of the disease .
the mean time duration between symptoms onset to diagnosis of disease had been 8 months .
the median survival time was 5 months.conclusionrare anorectal melanoma and its similar manifestations to other common anorectal conditions can delay the diagnosis , therefore should be considered as an uncommon differential diagnosis .
the disease 's outcome is poor and most probably delay in the diagnosis has an important role in the treatment results . |
6,881 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: although in 1835 , purkinje and valentin ( 1835 ) published the first treatise to include studies of mammalian cilia , the history of what may be considered modern research on mammalian cilia does not extend back more than a few years longer than the history of this journal .
motile mammalian cilia attracted the attention of microscopists before the advent of electron microscopy , because they moved and were obviously similar in this motion to protozoan cilia . nevertheless , several light microscope structures whose later fine structure appearance ( and molecular biology ) had little in common with cilia were nevertheless labeled cilia , including the stereocilia of the hair cells , which are in fact modified microvilli . in 1954 ,
the electron microscope observations of fawcett and porter ( 1954 ) definitively characterized the 9 + 2 pattern of the cytoskeleton , the axoneme , of motile mammalian and other cilia .
they showed that this structure was enclosed by an extension of the cell membrane , the ciliary membrane .
the axoneme of true cilia was always an extension of a basal body and related to the nine - fold construction of the centriole . by 1956 , porter ( 1957 ) and de robertis ( 1956 ) realized that cilia were found as sensory structures in , for example mammalian photoreceptors , where the central pair of microtubules in the axoneme was absent , and the cilia were nonmotile , hence 9 + 0 .
finally , in the early 1960s , a number of electron microscopy studies showed that solitary 9 + 0 cilia , now termed primary cilia , are present on many differentiated cells of tissues of the mammalian and vertebrate body , including kidney cells , fibroblasts , neurons and even schwann cells ( barnes 1961 ; sorokin 1962 ; grillo and palay 1963 ) .
although specific antibodies against detyrosinated and acetylated tubulin became available to detect primary cilia in immunofluorescence microscopy ( piperno et al .
1987 ; cambray - deakin and burgoyne 1987 ) , primary cilia were generally neglected as... | in the past half century , beginning with electron microscopic studies of 9 + 2 motile and 9 + 0 primary cilia , novel insights have been obtained regarding the structure and function of mammalian cilia .
all cilia can now be viewed as sensory cellular antennae that coordinate a large number of cellular signaling pathways , sometimes coupling the signaling to ciliary motility or alternatively to cell division and differentiation .
this view has had unanticipated consequences for our understanding of developmental processes and human disease . |
6,882 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: hemolytic uremic syndrome ( hus ) is characterized by the triad of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia , thrombocytopenia and acute renal failure .
hus in children is most commonly caused by shiga - like toxin - producing escherichia coli ( stec ) , with pneumococcal - associated hus ( phus ) accounting for 5% of acquired cases .
up to 85% of patients require dialysis with a mortality rate of > 10% [ 1 , 2 ] .
streptococcus pneumoniae cleaves n - acetylneuraminic acid ( sialic acid ) and exposes the thomsen friedenreich antigen ( t - antigen ) on glomerular endothelial cell glycoproteins .
this process , known as t - activation , then leads to igm binding from circulating igm anti - t antibodies , and the clinical syndrome of hus ( figure 1 ) .
if necessary , transfusion of washed blood products is preferable to avoid increasing the levels of preformed anti - t antibodies , which are high in unwashed products .
anecdotal evidence supports the use of plasma exchange with 5% albumin replacement , and avoiding fresh frozen plasma ( ffp ) due to preformed anti - t antibodies in the pooled product [ 57 ] .
a 12-year - old female with steroid - resistant nephrotic syndrome presented to the emergency department with fever , shortness of breath and cough .
she was started on vancomycin and cefotaxime , and admitted to our pediatric intensive care unit for further management .
past medical history was remarkable for the diagnosis of nephrotic syndrome at the age of 5 years .
although initially responsive to steroids she suffered several relapses when the steroid dose was tapered . at the age of 6 years
genetic testing for inherited nephrotic syndromes identified a heterozygous , non - coding mutation in the transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily c member 6 ( trpc6 ) gene of unknown clinical significance .
after relapse and a failed attempt to induce full remission with oral steroids she was started on tacrolimus . over the next 3 years she had a partial clinical response , with improved edema but... | pneumococcal - associated hemolytic uremic syndrome ( phus ) is a rare but severe complication of invasive streptococcus pneumoniae infection .
we report the case of a 12-year - old female with steroid - resistant nephrotic syndrome treated with adrenocorticotrophic hormone ( h.p .
acthar gel ) , who developed pneumococcal pneumonia and subsequent phus .
while nephrotic syndrome is a well - known risk factor for invasive pneumococcal disease , this is the first reported case of phus in an adolescent patient with nephrotic syndrome , and reveals novel challenges in the diagnosis , treatment and potential prevention of this complication . |
6,883 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: low back pain is a common disorder affecting 80% of people in their lives and one of the most common reasons to visit primary care physicians.1 - 3 ) it is often described as localized pain in the iliac crest area in patients with chronic back pain.4 ) it has been reported that 15% to 25% of pain in patients with pain in the posterior iliac crest area results from injury of the posterior ramus of the t12 thoracic nerve due to fracture or degenerative changes and this pain is often confused with back pain originating in the sacral region.5 ) we describe the case of a patient with low back pain and pain around the right gluteal area , refractory to vertebroplasty and autogenous bone grafting , which was improved via management of thoracolumbar junction syndrome .
a 42-year - old korean woman with low back pain , general weakness , loss of appetite , and indigestion for 3 months presented to the department of family medicine , dongsan medical center , daegu , korea via the outpatient clinic for evaluation and conservative management .
the patient has been followed up on for hypertension , dyslipidemia , and osteogenesis imperfecta for 8 years .
the patient had been treated with monthly intravenous administration of pamidronate 15 mg for osteoporosis since the dual - energy x - ray absorptiometry had demonstrated a t score of -2.93 8 years ago , but there was no improvement in bone mass density .
the patient has had percutaneous vertebroplasty for a t11 compression fracture 6 years ago , but her low back pain has continued .
the patient had presented to the orthopedic outpatient clinic with aggravation of low back pain 4 years ago , in which she was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta and had an magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) demonstrating a t11 compression fracture with thoracolumbar kyphotic deformity .
one year ago , the patient had kyphosis correction with autogenous bone grafting for continued low back pain and 30 degrees kyphosis .
a relief in symptoms was reported for some time thereafter , but her... | thoracolumbar junction syndrome is characterized by referred pain which may originate at the thoracolumbar junction , which extends from 12th thoracic vertebra to 2nd lumbar vertebra , due to functional abnormalities .
clinical manifestations include back pain , pseudo - visceral pain and pseudo - pain on the posterior iliac crest , as well as irritable bowel symptoms . during clinical examination
, pain can be demonstrated by applying pressure on the facet joints or to the sides of the spinous processes .
radiological studies show only mild and insignificant degenerative changes in most cases .
we report a 42-year - old female patient with osteogenesis imperfecta who suffered from chronic low back pain . under the diagnosis of thoracolumbar junction syndrome ,
she was treated with an epidural block and a sympathetic nerve block , which improved her symptoms . |
6,884 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: over the last twenty years , important progress in molecular biology and recombinant technologies has led to new applications and areas of research in the field of protein nmr .
the ability to produce , by recombinant technologies , pure , highly concentrated , and isotopically labeled samples has allowed both solution and solidstate protein nmr to gain insight into the structural dynamics of many biomolecular systems with an atomic resolution . on the other hand ,
the very use of recombinant technology has led the field largely to neglect the importance of posttranslational modifications ( ptms ) , an indispensable step in the maturation of proteins towards their functional forms that regulate the activity , localization , stability , and physicochemical properties of proteins .
ptms have become especially relevant in the study of intrinsically disordered proteins ( idps ) , which are attracting considerable interest among the biomolecular nmr community .
indeed , idps are more susceptible to undergoing ptms than folded proteins.1 because of the inherent flexibility of these proteins , ptms will have an important impact on their activity , cellular localization , and interaction properties , by modulating their structural dynamics.2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 for example , nterminal acetylation of synuclein9 increases the helical propensity of the nterminal segment7 and enhances the affinity of synuclein for calmodulin by a factor of 10.10 thus , neglecting the impact of ptms on the general properties of proteins will necessarily lead to an inaccurate description of their biochemical properties and ultimately of their physiological functions .
nmyristoylation is the covalent attachment , catalyzed by the enzyme nmyristoyl transferase ( nmt ) , of a 14carbon saturated fatty acid to the nterminal glycine residue through an amide bond ; in eukaryotic systems it usually occurs cotranslationally .
nmyristoylation is a very common ptm . by increasing the hydrophobicity of the modified protein ,
myristoylation is... | abstractincorporation of myristic acid onto the n terminus of a protein is a crucial modification that promotes membrane binding and correct localization of important components of signaling pathways .
recombinant expression of nmyristoylated proteins in escherichia coli can be achieved by coexpressing yeast nmyristoyltransferase and supplementing the growth medium with myristic acid .
however , undesired incorporation of the 12carbon fatty acid lauric acid can also occur ( leading to heterogeneous samples ) , especially when the available carbon sources are scarce , as it is the case in minimal medium for the expression of isotopically enriched samples . by applying this method to the brain acid soluble protein 1 and the 1185 nterminal region of csrc , we show the significant , and proteinspecific , differences in the membrane binding properties of lauroylated and myristoylated forms .
we also present a robust strategy for obtaining laurylfree samples of myristoylated proteins in both rich and minimal media . |
6,885 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: a major change associated with human aging is a progressive decline in skeletal muscle mass ( smm ) , which is a downward spiral that may lead to decreased strength and function .
age - related decline in physical fitness is related to many problems in the elderly population . according to previous epidemiological studies on the elderly ,
physical performance may be related to maintenance of physical fitness , improvement of life motivation , quality of life ( qol ) , and nutrition.14 sterberg et al suggested that a lack of occlusal support was related to general physical muscle weakness.5 this study was based on three 70-year - old cohorts ( n=1,380 ) .
furthermore , yamaga et al reported that dental occlusion is associated with dynamic strength of the lower extremities , agility , and balance in the elderly.6 this sample consisted of 591 individuals aged 70 years and 158 aged 80 years selected from the registry of residents in niigata city , japan .
, walking speed is very important in qol ; however , there have been no reports on the relationship between walking speed and oral condition .
sarcopenia is a syndrome characterized by progressive and generalized loss of smm and strength , with a risk of adverse outcomes such as physical disability , poor qol , and death.7,8 the european working group on sarcopenia in older people ( ewgsop ) recommends using the presence of both low muscle mass and muscle function ( strength or performance ) for the diagnosis of sarcopenia .
the age - dependent loss of smm begins at ~40 years of age and becomes prominent after 50 years of age in japanese adults.9 some studies have suggested that an exercise habit in middle - aged people was a protective factor against sarcopenia in older age and is effective for maintaining muscle strength and physical performance in older age.10,11 from the national dental survey , the prevalence of periodontitis in those aged 4045 and 5559 years was 25.6% and 47.0% , respectively.12 decline in the number of teeth and the muscle mass and its... | purposedecline in the number of teeth and physical fitness begins from 40 years of age ; however , several epidemiological studies have identified relationships between oral conditions and physical performance parameters in community - dwelling elderly population .
the aim of this study was to validate the relationship between the muscle mass and its function and oral conditions ( number of teeth and dental occlusion ) after 40 years of age in a community - dwelling population in japan.materials and methodsthe subjects comprised of 552 volunteers ( 198 males and 354 females , 4079 years ) who participated in the iwaki health promotion project in 2013 .
multiple linear regression analyses were performed with the measures of the muscle mass and its function as objective variables and the measures of the number of teeth , age , body mass index , medical history , serum albumin concentration , smoking status , habitual alcohol intake , marital status , education levels , and exercising habits as explanatory variables .
the relationships between the eichner index and the muscle mass and its function were analyzed using analysis of covariance , with adjustment for confounding factors.resultsafter adjusting for confounding factors , the number of teeth was shown to be an independent risk factor for the timed 10 m walk test ( in females ) and the skeletal muscle mass of the whole body ( in males ) .
the results also revealed that the timed 10 m walk test was significantly correlated with the eichner index ( classes a and c in females were correlated).conclusionthis cross - sectional study on a japanese community - dwelling population revealed relationships between oral conditions and the muscle mass and its function .
however , the interpretation of our results was hampered by a lack of data , including those on socioeconomic status and longitudinal observations .
future research exploring teeth loss and the muscle mass and its function is warranted . |
6,886 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: one fourth of cerebrovascular events are attributable to atherosclerotic carotid artery disease.1 large population - based studies indicate that the prevalence of carotid stenosis ranges from approximately 0.5% in individuals above the age of 60 and 10% in those above 80 years old ; however , stenosis remains asymptomatic in the majority of cases.24 the incidence of stroke will probably increase in the next 20 years due to the aging of the population and the improved survival rate of patients with a history of stroke or myocardial infarction ; these are people who are at increased risk of further vascular accidents .
randomized controlled trials have shown that the surgical treatment of carotid artery stenosis is more efficient than medical therapy alone in terms of stroke prevention when treating carotid artery stenosis > 70% in asymptomatic patients or > 50% in symptomatic patients.4 , 7 in recent years , carotid artery stenting ( cas ) has gained worldwide attention as a less invasive treatment option for stroke prevention .
data from recent studies and registries show that cas can be performed with excellent technical success and a 30-day stroke / death rate of 2.2%
4.8%.810 although several registries and trials have assessed the feasibility and results of cas in the world , such studies on this important procedure and its results in iran are scarce.10 , 11 in this study , we sought to evaluate cas efficacy and safety in our center and report our short and long - term clinical results in the treatment of 40 consecutive patients .
the data of 40 patients with internal carotid artery stenosis who underwent cas with the use of an embolic protection device between july 2008 and december 2009 were analyzed .
all the patients had evidence of carotid stenosis in non - invasive tests such as doppler sonography , ct , or magnetic resonance angiography .
all the patients provided signed informed consent and agreed to undergo regular follow - up evaluations .
all the patients referred to the clinic one month later... | backgroundcarotid artery stenting is now used as an alternative to surgical endarterectomy .
this study was done to assess the feasibility , safety , and immediate and late clinical outcomes in patients undergoing carotid stenting.methodsbetween july 2008 and december 2009 , a total of 40 patients ( 20 male , mean age : 65 11 years , 19 symptomatic , and 90% high risk for endarterectomy ) underwent carotid artery stenting with different embolic protection devices and carotid stents .
thirty - seven patients had coronary artery disease . technical success rate , stroke / death / myocardial infarction rate at 30 days , access - site complications , and contrast - induced nephropathy were assessed . for the evaluation of the influence of experience in carotid artery stenting on complications
, the patients were divided into two groups : group 1 included the first 20 treated patients and group 2 comprised the remainder of the patients.resultsthe overall technical success rate was 100% .
the cumulative in - hospital stroke death rate was 7.5% ( n = 3 : 2 deaths and 1 major stroke ) .
complications were more frequent in group 1 ( 2/20 , 10% ; 2 deaths ) than in group 2 ( 1/20 , 5% ; 1 major stroke ) , but this was not statistically significant ( p value = 0.09 ) .
no access - site complications occurred , and mild contrast - induced nephropathy occurred in 3 patients ( 7.5% ) .
no major stroke or neurological deaths occurred during a mean follow - up of 12 months.conclusioncarotid stenting seemed feasible and relatively safe in our experience .
advanced experience in carotid artery stenting appears to confer an acceptable peri - procedural stroke - death rate . |
6,887 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: stroke is the most common chronic disease in the world , and the most important known cause for disability and reduction of independency and quality of life ( qol ) in adults .
as stroke causes lifelong complications in nervous system , it is counted as one of the common health problems .
about 5.5 million people die of this disease each year worldwide , an it is known as the third cause for mortality in the world of which two thirds occur in developing countries such as iran .
the incidence of stroke was reported as 139 out of 100,000 in iran , which is notably higher than in the western countries . as stroke
is usually accompanied with functional dependency , the above rate of prevalence can not show the real impact of cerebral vascular accident(cva ) alone .
it is the cause for a high number of lifelong and serious major disabilities , and is the main cause that results in an increase the number of the patients with sensory and motor defects as well as absence of function .
stroke is the most common disabling disorder in the nervous system that leaves a deep impact on the patients and their families .
although about 80% of the stroke survivors are discharged from hospital after passing the acute stage of the disease and having a stable condition , they suffer from numerous social , physical , sensory , conceptual , mental , psychological , cognitive , and social complications such as a defective consciousness , motor disorder , paralysis , muscular atrophy , imbalance , dysphasia and its risk of aspiration pneumonia , incontinency , constipation , pressure sore , dermal irritations , urinary retention , deep vein thrombosis ( dvt ) , thromboembolim , pulmonary embolim , unstable hypertension , and shoulder pain . among the other complications , immobility ,
spasity , problem in standing and walking , hemiplegia , and oral and motor disorders can be counted .
these disorders result in loss of patients independency and an increased dependency on relatives , reduced self - confidence , mental complications... | background : stroke is a stressful event with several functional , physical , psychological , social , and economic problems that affect individuals different living balances . with coping strategies , patients try to control these problems and return to their natural life .
the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a care plan based on roy adaptation model biological dimension on stroke patients physiologic adaptation level.materials and methods : this study is a clinical trial in which 50 patients , affected by brain stroke and being admitted in the neurology ward of kashani and alzahra hospitals , were randomly assigned to control and study groups in isfahan in 2013 .
roy adaptation model care plan was administered in biological dimension in the form of four sessions and phone call follow - ups for 1 month .
the forms related to roy adaptation model were completed before and after intervention in the two groups .
chi - square test and t - test were used to analyze the data through spss 18.results:there was a significant difference in mean score of adaptation in physiological dimension in the study group after intervention ( p < 0.001 ) compared to before intervention .
comparison of the mean scores of changes of adaptation in the patients affected by brain stroke in the study and control groups showed a significant increase in physiological dimension in the study group by 47.30 after intervention ( p < 0.001).conclusions : the results of study showed that roy adaptation model biological dimension care plan can result in an increase in adaptation in patients with stroke in physiological dimension .
nurses can use this model for increasing patients adaptation . |
6,888 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: pesticides enhance economic potential through increased food and fiber production as well as through control of vector - borne diseases .
this ease of availability has resulted in a gradual increase in accidental and suicidal poisoning [ 14 ] . globally ,
each year , poisoning due to organophosphorus compounds is responsible for approximately three million episodes that result in nearly 200 000 deaths .
the vast majority of these occur in developing countries like india , as a result of fatal pesticide self - poisoning [ 68 ] .
however , developing countries account for only 20% of global pesticide use . on the morning of 2 february 2008
, residents of sindhikela village , bolangir district , in the indian state of orissa were admitted to the hospital with complaints that included vomiting , profuse sweating and fits . some were in serious condition .
sindhikela is a small village with a poor rural population , where people sometimes do not have the resources to cook themselves breakfast : they eat a snack on the street instead . as a response to the alert
, the additional district medical officer ( public health ) and a graduate from the indian field epidemiology training programme ( fetp ) proceeded to the village immediately with the district task force to identify for the cause of the outbreak and ensure preventive and control measures .
we defined a case as occurrence of vomiting and profuse sweating between 6:00 am and 8:00 am on 2 february 2008 in a resident of sindhikela .
we plotted an epidemic curve , drew a map of the residence of the case patients , and calculated age and sex specific attack rates to describe the outbreak by time , place , and person . to identify risk factors we conducted a case control study .
we included all cases as defined above and recruited controls as the healthy neighbors of case patients .
we collected information from the case patients and the control subjects on symptoms , date and time of onset , source of food taken in the last 24 hours and drinking water... | introduction . we investigated a cluster of pesticide poisoning in orissa .
methods .
we searched the village for cases of vomiting and sweating on 2 february 2008 .
we described the outbreak by time , place , and person .
we compared cases with controls .
results .
we identified 65 cases ( two deaths ; attack rate : 12 per 1000 ; case fatality : 3% ) .
the epidemic curve suggested a point source outbreak , and cases clustered close to a roadside eatery .
consumption of water from a specific source ( odds ratio [ or ] : 35 , confidence interval [ ci ] : 1393 ) and eating in the eatery ( or : 2.3 , ci : 1.14.7 ) was associated with illness .
on 31 january 2008 , villagers had used pesticides to kill street dogs and had discarded leftovers in the drains .
damaged pipelines located
beneath and supplying water may have aspirated the pesticide during the nocturnal negative pressure phase and rinsed it off the next morning in the water supply .
conclusions .
innapropriate use of pesticides contaminated the water supply and caused this outbreak .
education programs and regulations need to be combined to ensure a safer use of pesticides in india . |
6,889 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: numerous studies have
revealed the importance of tams on tumor
growth and development .
they are present in both tumor stroma and nests , accounting for up to 50% of tumor mass .
tams contribute to tumor growth by producing stromal breakdown factors
and by suppressing adaptive immunity .
moreover ,
tams induce chemoresistance by inhibiting tumor cell apoptosis . recently , there is also compelling evidence
that tam infiltration in tumors is correlated with poor prognosis
of many cancers , including breast , pancreatic , ovarian , prostate ,
cervix , bladder cancer , and certain types of glioma and lymphoma in
patients .
tams are thus considered a potentially viable target in designing
innovative imaging and therapy strategies .
in fact , there are various
reported methods to target tams . among them , using the membrane receptors
on tams is commonly explored .
for example , the endocytic cd163 protein was recently
proposed as a tam target for anticancer and antiangiogenesis drug
design .
folate receptor- , another
protein commonly expressed on the surface of macrophages , had also
been exploited to target toxins to tams .
because tams overexpress mannose receptor ( mr ) , there had been efforts to increase the delivery of oligos ,
dna , imaging agents , and vaccines to tams by surface - modifying the
delivery systems with mannose derivatives , anti - mr nanobody , or galactose derivative .
unfortunately , many of the previously reported
delivery systems can be inevitably taken up by macrophages that are
not in tumors because those macrophages often express similar membrane
receptors as the tams do . to address
this issue , we recently constructed an acid - sensitive
sheddable pegylated , mannose - modified nanoparticle platform ( as - m - nps ) .
the nanoparticles are prepared with plga , surface - modified with mannose ,
and pegylated with an acid - sensitive peg amphiphile , peg - hydrazone - c18
( or phc ) , which was synthesized by conjugating peg (... | tumor - associated
macrophages ( tams ) are increasingly considered
a viable target for tumor imaging and therapy .
previously , we reported
that innovative surface - functionalization of nanoparticles may help
target them to tams . in this report , using poly(lactic - co - glycolic ) acid ( plga ) nanoparticles incorporated with doxorubicin
( dox ) ( dox - nps ) , we studied the effect of surface - modification of
the nanoparticles with mannose and/or acid - sensitive sheddable polyethylene
glycol ( peg ) on the biodistribution of dox and the uptake of dox by
tams in tumor - bearing mice .
we demonstrated that surface - modification
of the dox - nps with both mannose and acid - sensitive sheddable peg
significantly increased the accumulation of dox in tumors , enhanced
the uptake of the dox by tams , but decreased the distribution of dox
in mononuclear phagocyte system ( mps ) , such as liver .
we also confirmed
that the acid - sensitive sheddable pegylated , mannose - modified dox - nanoparticles
( dox - as - m - nps ) targeted tams because depletion of tams in tumor - bearing
mice significantly decreased the accumulation of dox in tumor tissues .
furthermore , in a b16-f10 tumor - bearing mouse model , we showed that
the dox - as - m - nps were significantly more effective than free dox in
controlling tumor growth but had only minimum effect on the macrophage
population in mouse liver and spleen .
the as - m - nps are promising in
targeting cytotoxic or macrophage - modulating agents into tumors to
improve tumor therapy . |
6,890 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: | we present a case of progressive interstitial fibrosis in a retired shipyard worker who was exposed to asbestos during the postwar era of the late 1940s and 1950s , when asbestos exposures in the workplace were not regulated .
forty years later , at 63 years of age , the patient presented with restrictive lung disease .
the patient was diagnosed with asbestos - related pleural disease and parenchymal asbestosis .
he remained stable for the next 7 years , but then he began to manifest rapid clinical progression , which raised the possibility of an unusual variant of asbestosis , a concomitant interstitial process , or an unrelated disease .
lung biopsy was not undertaken because of the patient 's low pulmonary reserve and limited treatment options .
an empiric trial of oral steroids was initiated , but his pulmonary status continued to deteriorate and he died of pulmonary failure at 72 years of age .
many diseases result in pulmonary interstitial fibrosis .
ideally , open lung biopsy should be performed , but this procedure inevitably causes complications in many patients with end - stage restrictive lung disease . furthermore , while the presence of asbestos bodies in tissue sections is a sensitive and specific marker of asbestos exposure , neither this finding nor any other charge is a marker indicative of asbestosis or the severity of asbestosis . with the enactment of the asbestos standard in the united states , asbestos exposures have been decreasing in this country .
however , industries that produce asbestos products and wastes continue to expand in developing countries .
prevention of asbestos - related lung disease should be a global endeavor , and asbestos exposures should be regulated in both developed and developing countries.imagesfigure 1figure 2figure 3figure 4 |
6,891 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: alcoholism is one of the major health and social problems faced in developing countries . although there are various drugs , none of them proved to be efficacious in the long run owing to the cost , adverse effects and the inadequate compliance for the long term management of alcohol de - addiction . for naltrexone and acamprosate , though approved in the west , their cost effects are a burden for the lower and middle class in the indian society .
but its compliance rates are considerably affected due to the large number of adverse effects contributing to the high percentage of default rates .
although majority of adverse effects was noted by poulsen et al , they also stated that it could not be differentiated from sobriety or manifestations of alcohol abuse . since efficacy of a medication depends on its mode of action , seriousness of illness and its toxicity , this cross - sectional study is aimed at noting the efficacy of 125 mg od dsm in contrast to the study conducted on 250 mg od dsm by srinivasan et al , on patients , initially in the hospital and later at the home setup under supervision .
this study concentrated mainly on adverse effects , change in laboratory parameters and compliance rates .
this cross - sectional study was conducted on alcohol - dependent patients who were undergoing detoxification for alcoholic de - addiction therapy in a private hospital for 40 days .
dsm iv criteria , alcohol - dependent patients.alcoholics 20 - 60 years of age with normal liver function test 's after detoxification .
alcoholics 20 - 60 years of age with normal liver function test 's after detoxification .
relapse cases.liver function test 's above normal range .
liver function test 's above normal range . patients satisfying inclusion criteria were examined and routine investigations like complete hemogram , lipogram , blood glucose , serum electrolytes , liver function test and occult blood in stool along with psychiatry evaluation before the administration of dsm and on the 30 and 60 days of dsm... | aim : assessment of safety and efficacy profile of disulfiram ( dsm ) in the alcoholic de - addiction regimen.objectives:a .
assessment of adverse drug reaction ( adr ) profile ; b. evaluation of effectiveness of various deaddiction regimen ; c. defaulters and dropoutspatients and methods : fifty - one patients in a de - addiction center were investigated on 0th , 30th and 60th day along with psychiatric evaluation , adr surveillance was made .
statistical analysis was done thereafter.results:125 mg dsm given od for 2 months .
76.5% patients had taken full course of treatment , 45% did n't complain of any adr . of adr reported 27.4% had drowsiness , 21.4% tiredness , 7.8% skin manifestation.conclusion:dsm is the main drug among naltrexone , acamprosate , nalmefene and other drugs used in alcoholic de - addiction .
relative and effectiveness is lost by the degree of dropouts and hence relapses .
low - dose dsm had decreased adverse effects with 76.5% patients taking the full course of treatment .
dsm alters liver functions as there were significant changes in the lab parameters of sgpt(p=0.007 ) , sgot(p=0.001 ) , ggt(p=<0.001 ) between first and third samples .
occurrence of adr is not the cause of default ; patients find it confusing to differentiate between the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal and those due to adr of dsm . |
6,892 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: migration of physicians has become a prominent issue as a result of the increasing globalisation of the physician workforce .
the establishment of regional labour markets has provided a new legal framework governing the international movements of individuals .
such a framework may foster the free movement of physicians , particularly through the harmonisation and recognition of qualifications and diplomas across countries .
foreign physicians also play an important role in compensating for an inadequate domestic supply in many countries of the oecd .
the permanent departure of skilled labour might deplete the human capital of home countries , thus reducing the possibility for economic growth and raising the level of inequalities and poverty in those countries .
moreover , increasing concerns in host countries about the safety and quality of health care provision by foreign physicians has created barriers to migration and , in some cases , discrimination against foreign physicians .
this paper presents a comprehensive study of international migration of physicians by documenting migration flows in oecd countries and by analysing impact , regulation , and health policy implications of physician migration . the empirical evidence on the contribution of foreign physicians to the physician workforce of oecd countries is briefly reviewed . a societal perspective is then adopted to analyse the benefits and costs of physician migration on home and host countries . international regulation governing physician migration and its impact on migration flows are examined in the subsequent section
. policies that oecd countries have implemented to attract foreign physicians in order to sustain their domestic physician workforce are then evaluated .
the final section discusses lessons learnt from experiences of oecd countries with physician migration with a view to developing approaches to physician migration that confer benefits on home and host countries .
in order to investigate the complexity of international migration of... | backgroundin the face of rising demand for medical services due to ageing populations , physician migration flows are increasingly affecting the supply of physicians in organisation for economic co - operation and development ( oecd ) countries .
this paper offers an integrated perspective on the impact of physician migration on home and host countries and discusses international regulation and policy approaches governing physician migration.methodsinformation about migration flows , international regulation and policies governing physician migration were derived from two questionnaires sent to oecd countries , a secondary analysis of eurostat labour force surveys , a literature review and official policy documents of oecd countries.resultsoecd countries increasingly perceive immigration of foreign physicians as a way of sustaining their physician workforce . as a result
, countries have entered into international agreements regulating physician migration , although their success has been limited due to the imposition of licensing requirements and the protection of vested interests by domestic physicians .
oecd countries have therefore adopted specific policies designed to stimulate the immigration of foreign physicians , whilst minimising its negative impact on the home country .
measures promoting immigration have included international recruitment campaigns , less strict immigration requirements and arrangements that foster shared learning between health care systems .
policies restricting the societal costs of physician emigration from developing countries such as good practice guidelines and taxes on host countries have not yet produced their expected effect or in some cases have not been established at all.conclusionsalthough oecd countries generally favour long - term policies of national self - sufficiency to sustain their physician workforce , such policies usually co - exist with short - term or medium - term policies to attract foreign physicians . as this is likely to continue
, there... |
6,893 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: the family of homer scaffolding proteins consists of three family members : homer1 , homer2 , and homer3 , with respective splice variants for each member .
these proteins are typically expressed in a concentrated fashion at post - synaptic densities , but have been ascribed with certain non - neuronal functions ( babu et al . , 2004 ; stiber et al . ,
the majority of proteins that belong to the homer family share two structurally conserved features in their secondary form : an n - terminal enabled / vasodilator - stimulated phosphoprotein homology 1 ( evh1 ) domain responsible for associating with proline - rich sequences contained within its target / ligand proteins , and a c - terminal coiled - coil domain containing multiple leucine zipper motifs that control homo / heteromerization of homer proteins ( xiao et al . , 1998 ;
one short homer protein splice variant , homer1a , does not contain this c - terminal region ( brakeman et al . , 1997 ) , allowing it to exist as a dominant - negative inhibitor to the scaffolding functions of the long forms .
importantly , homer proteins have been demonstrated to associate with many different proteins , including several which are critical to the transduction of peripheral somatosensory information .
group 1 metabotropic glutamate receptors ( mglur1/5 ) expressed in the spinal cord ( yashpal et al . , 2001 ) and amygdala ( neugebauer et al . , 2003 ; kolber et al .
2011b ) have been shown to be important to pain processing , and are tightly modulated by homer scaffolding proteins ( brakeman et al .
as shown in figure 1 , homer proteins link mglur1/5 to intracellular calcium stores through inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate ( ip3 ) receptor types 1 and 3 ( tu et al . , 1998 ) , thereby regulating calcium release and neuronal excitability .
also , homer proteins are suspected to mediate the coupling of mglur and n - methyl - d - aspartate ( nmda ) receptors , prevalent in post - synaptic densities ( guo et al . , 2004 ) .
homer proteins associate with numerous other proteins... | dynamic changes in somatosensory perception occur as a result of multiple signaling events . in many instances , over - activation of sensory receptors results in the desensitization and subsequent increased threshold for activation of receptors . in other cases ,
receptor sensitization can occur following tissue injury and/or inflammation . in both cases , signaling mechanisms that control alterations in receptor activities can significantly affect organism response to sensory stimuli , including thermal , mechanical , and chemical .
due to the homeostatic nature of somatosensory recognition , dynamic changes in receptor response can negatively affect an individual 's way of life , as well as alert individuals to tissue damage . here , we will focus on scaffolding structures that regulate somatosensory neuronal excitability . |
6,894 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: human hydatid disease is caused by echinococcus granulosus , a cestode that is commonly lodged in the liver .
several endemic regions exist ; however , the disease may be observed anywhere in the world .
surgery remains the main modality of treatment , despite advances in medical and minimally invasive radiological therapies . in the last decade , laparoscopic surgery has become a part of the discussion of this issue , and several studies have reported encouraging results .
whatever the technique , surgeons should focus on safe evacuation and sterilization of the cyst 's cavity . on the other hand , obliteration of the cavity with greater omentum
herein , we report our series of patients with hydatid disease of the liver who underwent laparoscopic surgery , including omentoplasty and fixation of the omentum with helical fasteners .
between january 1998 and april 2000 , 13 patients ( 5 men and 8 women ) , mean age 36 years ( range 23 to 63 years ) with hydatid disease of the liver were considered for laparoscopic surgery at our department .
in the patient who had two , both of the cysts were in the right lobe .
the cysts ' localizations were as follows : five in segment 8 , five in segment 5 , three in segment 4 , and one in segment 2 .
the diagnoses were made with computerized tomography ( ct ) , ultrasonography ( us ) , and specific serological examinations .
five patients were primarily diagnosed with us and 8 with ct . nevertheless , ct studies were added to the first group to have an optimum morphological evaluation .
no evidence or suspicion existed of biliary rupture upon clinical findings and radiological studies ( history of cholangitis or jaundice , evidence of dilatation of the biliary tree , or connection with the cyst ) .
indirect hemagglutination tests ( iht ) and elisa tests were done as serological tests and were positive in all patients .
the patients who had evidence of biliary rupture , a history of recurrence , cysts deep or difficult to access in liver ( central or posterior localizations... | objectives : the objectives of this study were to investigate the characteristics and outcome of patients with hydatid disease of the liver who were laparoscopically managed at our clinic and to define technical details including an effective method of omentoplasty with helical fasteners.methods:between january 1998 and november 2000 , 13 patients , mean age 36 years ( range 23 to 63 years ) , with hydatid disease of the liver were considered for laparoscopic surgery in our department .
all the patients underwent laparoscopic surgical interventions.results:in all patients , laparoscopic cystotomy , unroofing , and omentoplasty with helical fasteners , which were originally designed for endoscopic hernia repair procedures , were performed .
no conversion to laparotomy was necessary . in 1 case , with a single cyst in the right lobe , bile leakage was observed .
no radiological recurrence was observed in an average follow - up of 17 months ( range 4 to 36 months).conclusions : obliteration of the residual cystic cavity decreases postoperative complication rates , so an effective omentoplasty is essential especially for laparoscopic procedures .
laparoscopy is quite feasible to perform in hydatid disease of the liver , and the use of helical fasteners allows effective omental flap fixation . |
6,895 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: ethical issues ( including plagiarism , informed consent , misconduct , data fabrication and/or falsification , double publication and/or submission , redundancy , etc ) have been completely observed by the authors .
nurses have the responsibility that within their career limit , make decisions and act based on their professional values .
values are intrinsically valuable concepts , and can be defined as the basis by which an individual or community selects the criterion of right or wrong . taking into account the exalted position of nursing , professional values
are determined by qualified associations and organization . in our country , the limits and boundaries of the actions , in many cases , are determined by islam and our constitution . as much
as the ethical values are in compliance with religious principles , they are universal and transnational . the most important principles that should be considered in nursing profession are :
respecting the patient / client and preserving human dignityaltruism and sympathydevotion to professional obligationsaccountability , responsibility and consciencejustice in servicescommitment to honesty and loyaltymaintaining patient s privacy , and commitment to confidentiality , and trustcontinuous improvement of scientific and practical competencepromote the awareness of professional rules and ethical guidelines , and respecting themmutual respect and appropriate communication with other health care providersrespecting autonomy of the patient / clientcompassion and kindness respecting the patient / client and preserving human dignity altruism and sympathy devotion to professional obligations accountability , responsibility and conscience commitment to honesty and loyalty maintaining patient s privacy , and commitment to confidentiality , and trust continuous improvement of scientific and practical competence promote the awareness of professional rules and ethical guidelines , and respecting them mutual respect and appropriate communication with other health care... | nurses are ever - increasingly confronted with complex concerns in their practice . codes of ethics are fundamental guidance for nursing as many other professions . although there are authentic international codes of ethics for nurses , the national code would be the additional assistance provided for clinical nurses in their complex roles in care of patients , education , research and management of some parts of health care system in the country .
a national code can provide nurses with culturally - adapted guidance and help them to make ethical decisions more closely to the iranian - islamic background . given the general acknowledgement of the need
, the national code of ethics for nurses was compiled as a joint project ( 20092011 ) .
the code was approved by the health policy council of the ministry of health and medical education and communicated to all universities , healthcare centers , hospitals and research centers early in 2011 .
the focus of this article is on the course of action through which the code was compiled , amended and approved .
the main concepts of the code will be also presented here . no doubt , development of the codes
should be considered as an ongoing process .
this is an overall responsibility to keep the codes current , updated with the new progresses of science and emerging challenges , and pertinent to the nursing practice . |
6,896 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: farming is one of the oldest industries in the world and often portrayed as a happy way of life . despite this , agriculture has one of the highest rates of suicides than any industry .
studies from canada , australia , united kingdom ( uk ) , and sri lanka have found high levels of distress and high suicide rate among farmers . based on proportional mortality ratios ,
farmers were among the top ten occupational groups with highest proportional mortality rates in the uk . in a psychological autopsy study from england ,
mental illness was most often judged as an important risk factor for suicide by farmers . in australia ,
suicide by farmers is linked with the occurrence of droughts . in india , in the 10 years , between 1997 and 2006 as many as 166,304 farmers have committed suicide .
the farmers ' suicide rate in the country in the year 2001 was 12.9 which was about one - fifth higher than the general suicide rate , which was 10.6 in that year .
economic factors such as indebtedness , crop failures , and acute financial loss or responsibility ( e.g. , marriage in family ) were significantly associated with farmers ' suicides in vidarbha region of maharashtra and rural punjab . a qualitative study from vidarbha region revealed that farmers perceived debt , addiction , environmental problems , low price for farm produce , stress , family responsibility , government apathy , etc .
studies on this issue in india so far have focused on socioeconomic and farming related risk factors .
this study was undertaken to meet this unmet need with objectives of studying socioeconomic and psychological correlates of farmers ' suicide .
a matched case control study was conducted from july 2008 to december 2009 in wardha district , located in vidarbha region of maharashtra state of india , one of the worst affected regions by farmers ' suicides .
wardha district has an area of 6310 km with total cultivable area 429,600 hectare , and only one - fourth of it is under irrigation .
it has a population of 1.23 million with male... | background : despite more than two decades since recognition of suicides by farmers in india , systematic studies comparing various risk factors are lacking .
this is major hurdle for the formulation of strategies for farmers ' suicide prevention.objective:to identify socioeconomic and psychological risk factors and their relative contribution in suicides by farmers.materials and methods : a matched case
control psychological autopsy was done on 98 farmers ' suicide victims and 98 controls in central india.results:economic problems , psychiatric illness , and stressful life events were found to be important contributors to farmers ' suicides .
important economic risk factors were procurement of debt , especially from multiple sources and for nonagricultural reasons and leasing out farms .
psychiatric illness was present significantly in higher proportion among cases than controls .
crop failure , interpersonal problems , medical illness , and marriage of female family member were significant stressful life events.conclusions:there are socioeconomic and psychological risk factors for suicide by farmers which can be targets of prevention policy . |
6,897 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: up to now six codons have been known which are deciphered by the corresponding trnas as amino acids different from those assigned by the universal genetic code in animal mitochondria ( figure 1 ) .
uga termination codon in the universal genetic code is deciphered to trp in all animal mitochondria , aua ile to met in most metazoan except echinoderm , planarian , cnidarian , placozoan and poriferan mitochondria , aaa lys to asn in echinoderm and some platyhelminth mitochondria , and aga / agg arg to ser in most invertebrate mitochondria , gly in tunicate ( urochordata ) mitochondria , and termination codon in vertebrate mitochondria .
uaa termination codon was assumed to be a tyr codon in a planaria and a nematode mitochondria , but there is neither structural information on mt trna that decodes the uaa codon , nor information about the mitochondrial ( mt ) release factor relevant to this phenomenon .
the codon - amino acid correspondence was first deduced by comparison of mt dna sequence containing the codon with amino acid sequence of the corresponding protein . since mt proteins exist in a small number ( in most cases , 13 ) and which are encoded by a small sized mt dna ( 16,500 bp in the case of human mitochondria ) , the correspondence can be unambiguously accomplished . in the next step , in order to analyze the molecular mechanism of the codon change , the corresponding trna sequence was analyzed especially focused on the anticodon sequence .
it is an advantageous point for analysis of mt trnas that in metazoan mitochondria , trna genes are restricted to 22~24 species on the mt genomes , and that trnas are not imported from the cytoplasm in almost all metazoan mitochondria except for a few cases such as in cnidaria . as the results , several modified nucleosides such as 5-carboxymethylaminomethyl(2-thio)uridine(cmnm(s)u )
, 5-taurinomethyl(2-thio)uridine ( m(s)u ) , 5-formylcytidine(fc ) , 7-methylguanosine(mg ) in the anticodon first position , and pseudouridine ( ) in the anticodon second... | in animal mitochondria , six codons have been known as nonuniversal genetic codes , which vary in the course of animal evolution .
they are uga ( termination codon in the universal genetic code changes to trp codon in all animal mitochondria ) , aua ( ile to met in most metazoan mitochondria ) , aaa ( lys to asn in echinoderm and some platyhelminth mitochondria ) , aga / agg ( arg to ser in most invertebrate , arg to gly in tunicate , and arg to termination in vertebrate mitochondria ) , and uaa ( termination to tyr in a planaria and a nematode mitochondria , but conclusive evidence is lacking in this case ) .
we have elucidated that the anticodons of trnas deciphering these nonuniversal codons ( trnatrp for uga , trnamet for aua , trnaasn for aaa , and trnaser and trnagly for aga / agg ) are all modified ; trnatrp has 5-carboxymethylaminomethyluridine or 5-taurinomethyluridine , trnamet has 5-formylcytidine or 5-taurinomethyluridine , trnaser has 7-methylguanosine and trnagly has 5-taurinomethyluridine in their anticodon wobble position , and trnaasn has pseudouridine in the anticodon second position .
this review aims to clarify the structural relationship between these nonuniversal codons and the corresponding trna anticodons including modified nucleosides and to speculate on the possible mechanisms for explaining the evolutional changes of these nonuniversal codons in the course of animal evolution . |
6,898 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: india 's phenomenal economic growth during recent decades has yet to be matched by commensurate improvements in health care access and health .
india 's infant mortality rate of 41 per 1,000 live births and maternal mortality rate of 190 per 100,000 live births are still among the world 's highest1 , and widespread inequality in health outcomes exists across income groups2 .
poor health outcomes and inequality are exacerbated by high rates of out - of - pocket ( oop ) medical expenditure .
over 75 per cent of health care costs are financed oop in india , a higher rate than in many developing countries3 , and medical expenses push as many as 63.2 million indians into poverty every year3456 . with a rising burden of non - communicable diseases ( ncd ) in india ,
oop medical expenditure associated with chronic and hospital care will continue to increase . in 2008 , 5.2 million indians died of non - communicable diseases , accounting for 53 per cent of all deaths7 .
the number of potentially productive years of life lost due to cardiovascular diseases for the 35 - 64 yr age group in india is predicted to be 17.9 million by 20307 .
the median 15-month oop expenditure for treating cardiovascular diseases in 2011 was 145,850 ( assuming 1$=
50)8 - an enormous burden for most indian households - and during 2012 - 2030 , the economic cost of cardiovascular disease , cancer , chronic respiratory disease , diabetes , and mental health in india is estimated to be 279 trillion ( assuming 1$= 45 ) in 2010 .
historically , india has addressed these challenges through targeted supply - side health care delivery mechanisms . however , in 2008 , the indian government launched the rashtriya swasthya bima yojana ( rsby ) , an inpatient health insurance scheme for the poor . with a cumulative enrolment of more than 37 million poor families , and an annual budget of 10.97 billion ( us$ 182.8 million , assuming 1 $ = 60 ) in 2012 - 2013 ,
although rsby is relatively recent , there have been several studies on its impact... | in this review the existing evidence on the impact of rashtriya swasthya bima yojana ( rsby ) is discussed in the context of international literature available on health insurance .
we describe potential pathways through which health insurance can affect health and economic outcomes , discuss evidence from other developing countries , and identify potential biases and inconsistencies in existing studies on rsby impact . given the relatively recent introduction of rsby , lack of quality , verifiable data on utilization patterns , and the absence of reliable evaluation studies , there is a need to exercise caution while assessing the merits of the programme . considering the enormous potential and cost of the programme , we emphasize the need for a rigorous impact evaluation of rsby .
it will not only help capture the real impact of the scheme , but may also be able to estimate the extent of systemic inefficiencies at the level of the consumer . |
6,899 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: multiple sclerosis ( ms ) is a long - lasting disease typically affecting young adults characterized by the presence of multifocal inflammatory demyelinated plaques distributed over time and space within the central nervous system ( cns ) .
pathological features of ms include breakdown of the blood - brain barrier , multifocal inflammation , demyelination , oligodendrocyte loss , reactive gliosis , and various degrees of axonal damage , ranging from transient dysfunction to irreversible loss , even at early stages of the disease .
although acute inflammation usually causes reversible neurological dysfunction , ms relapses may also lead to residual irreversible disability involving both motor and cognitive functions [ 3 , 4 ] . in the last decade , improved diagnostic criteria and availability of effective disease - modifying drugs have led to a paradigm shift towards earlier diagnosis and treatment [ 5 , 6 ] . in spite of this , either the actually available disease - modifying treatment or the other pharmacological approaches
have little or no impact on permanent impairments , with motor symptoms and cognitive deficit reported , respectively , by 4590% and 4065% of patients throughout their disease , with a certain degree of overlap [ 79 ] .
consequently , the management of motor and cognitive disturbances still relies on rehabilitative strategies [ 10 , 11 ] , which have been reported to be effective in ameliorating these functional domains , suggesting that remediation / compensation may occur into even damaged brain structures .
this may imply that rehabilitation is able to enhance neuroplasticity , that is , the intrinsic property of the cns to structurally and functionally adapt itself in response to external stimuli , environmental changes , or injuries . while in healthy individuals the plasticity represents the basis of brain development , learning , and memory , in the context of ms this term encompasses molecular , synaptic , cellular events and even reorganization of the brain cortex or fibers... | rehabilitation is recognized to be important in ameliorating motor and cognitive functions , reducing disease burden , and improving quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis ( ms ) . in this systematic review ,
we summarize the existing evidences that motor and cognitive rehabilitation may enhance functional and structural brain plasticity in patients with ms , as assessed by means of the most advanced neuroimaging techniques , including diffusion tensor imaging and task - related and resting - state functional magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) . in most cases ,
the rehabilitation program was based on computer - assisted / video game exercises performed in either an outpatient or home setting . despite their heterogeneity , all the included studies describe changes in white matter microarchitecture , in task - related activation , and/or in functional connectivity following both task - oriented and selective training .
when explored , relevant correlation between improved function and mri - detected brain changes was often found , supporting the hypothesis that training - induced brain plasticity is specifically linked to the trained domain .
small sample sizes , lack of randomization and/or an active control group , as well as missed relationship between mri - detected changes and clinical performance , are the major drawbacks of the selected studies .
knowledge gaps in this field of research are also discussed to provide a framework for future investigations . |
6,900 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: 27% of pregnant women are affected from preeclampsia ( pe ) which occurred in the second half of pregnancy and is defined mainly by the symptoms hypertension and proteinuria .
58% of these women develop hellp syndrome ( hemolysis , elevated liver enzymes , and low platelet count ) .
preeclampsia is one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal mortality worldwide and a main cause of preterm labour .
women with a history of preeclampsia are at elevated risk for cardiovascular diseases later in life . to reduce morbidity and mortality resulting from this disease life - style changes and prevention
the early detection for a high risk to develop preeclampsia has the potential to be a predictive tool also for other health disorders with meaningful consequences for the mothers , their offspring , and health care systems .
the placenta plays a key role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia since the symptoms of pe can occur in molar pregnancies which lack a fetus and the disease disappeared once the placenta is delivered .
it is meanwhile well accepted that undernutrition results in intrauterine growth restriction which seems to program coronary heart disease and hypertension later in life [ 35 ] .
strikingly the human placenta is only a transient organ , but its effect on the offspring is conserved throughout life .
appropriate function of the placenta requires the correct differentiation of the trophectoderm to establish a nutrition route between embryo and mother . despite many years of research , a complete understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of pe is still missing . the current theory of the pathogenesis of pe as reviewed by christopher redman and ian sargent
is thought to occur as a 2-stage process with poor placentation in the first half of pregnancy resulting in the maternal response in the second half of pregnancy [ 7 , 8 ] .
anatomic placental examination reveals that the basal plate is most affected by this disease , the site where cytotrophoblast ( ctb ) invasion occurs . in pe , interstitial... | preeclampsia is one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality .
new molecular insights offer new possibilities of early diagnosis of elevated maternal risk .
maternal risk factors , biophysical parameters like doppler examination of the uterine arteries and biochemical parameters allow early risk calculation .
preventive and effective therapeutic agents like acetylsalicylacid can be started in the early second trimester .
this article reviews the diagnostic possibilities of early risk calculation to detect women having high risk for preeclampsia and the potential benefits for them , the offspring and health care systems .
we provide risk calculation for preeclampsia as an important and sensible part of first trimester screening . |
6,901 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: after its composition was firstly described by billroth1 in 1856 , tcherkoff and sedlis2 reported lesions of the same type in the uterine cervix .
later baggish and woodruff3 recognized it as a distinct type of cervical neoplasm from adenoid cystic carcinoma .
the incidence of adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix is reported to account for less than 1% .
although the origin is debatable , it is considered derived from multipotential cells of the basal layer or reserve cells of cervical epithelium .
clinically , adenoid basal carcinoma is differentiated from other types of cancer for the rare metastasis and the excellent prognosis .
. twenty - two - year - old young female with adenoid basal carcinoma of the uterine cervix have been rarely reported in the literature . in korea where carcinoma of uterine cervix is one of the most common malignancy , adenoid basal carcinoma of the uterine cervix is considered relatively rare .
the patient was a 22-year - old korean woman who presented with a history of abnormal genital bleeding for 3 weeks .
no gross lesion was noted on the cervix and the pap smear was reported to be high - grade squamous intraepithelial lesion ( hsil ) .
the serum level of the tumor marker carbohydrate antigen ( ca ) 125 was elevated ( 48 u / ml ; normal < 35 u / ml ) , whereas the serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen ( cea ) , ca 19 - 9 , a - fetoprotein and squamous cell carcinoma antigen were within the normal ranges .
concerned with the patient 's hsil results , the clinician performed a cervical loop electrosurgical excision procedure ( leep ) and observed multiple erosions of inflammation overlying the cervix .
the clinician was able to discover hsil with superficial glandular extension and report adenoid basal carcinoma .
the patient is being closely followed up and has shown no evidence of recurrence within 24 months after the operation .
macroscopically , the tumor size of the lesion was 1.0 cm in the largest dimension .
microscopically , tumor cells were arranged in small nests or... | adenoid basal carcinoma of the uterine cervix is uncommon neoplasia mostly occurring in postmenopausal women .
it has excellent prognosis and a favorable clinical course . in addition
, adenoid basal carcinoma is differentiated from adenoid cystic carcinoma by histologic and cellular morphologies , and immunohistochemistry . in this paper , we present the case of a 22 year old korean female .
she initially had a high - grade squamous intraepithelial lesion ( hsil ) on pap smear and a subsequent cervical loop electrosurgical excision procedure ( leep ) specimen revealing adenoid basal carcinoma .
the lesion showed the histologic characteristics of adenoid basal carcinoma .
because of the lesion 's low potential for recurrence and metastasis , the young primipara had a conization procedure performed and has been under close observation . |
6,902 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: nicotine is a chemical that is present in the mount of about 1% of the weight of cigarette tobacco .
nicotine is the main active ingredient of tobacco and is also the main factor that leads to smoking addiction or dependence producing .
cotinine , a major degradation product of nicotine metabolism , has been an important recognized specific biomarker for evaluating cigarette smoke exposure .
urine specimens are commonly employed in biological monitoring because urine collection is noninvasive and poses minimal infectious disease risk to participants and researchers .
continuous and complete 24 h urine collection yields more accurate results , because spot urine sampling may not provide a valid overview of the entire toxicant exposure profile .
urine sample integrity and completeness is essential to exposure assessment research , and absence of compliance with the collection protocol is a fundamental concern to the researcher .
because creatinine is excreted in urine at a relatively constant rate through glomerular filtration , its measurement is an evaluation of sample integrity and completeness [ 6 , 7 ] . in addition
, urinary creatinine is commonly used in a ratio format to normalize analyte quantification for specimen concentration [ 8 , 9 ] .
the normalization process involves dividing the concentration of the analyte of interest by the creatinine concentration obtained in the same urine sample , with the result reported as the concentration of target analyte per millimol of creatinine .
recently , as a normalization basis , urinary creatinine was used to consider the excretion of a variety of xenobiotics related to smoking , ranging from cotinine to mercapturic acids .
there are numerous papers published about the determination of creatinine in human fluids , including the jaffe method [ 11 , 12 ] , enzymatic method , flow injection analysis , high - performance liquid chromatography [ 1522 ] , capillary electrophoretic [ 2325 ] , zone electrophoresis , gas chromatography - mass spectrometry , or... | a simple and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry ( hplc - esi - ms - ms ) method was developed and validated for the quantification of creatinine in human urine .
the analysis was carried out on an agilent zorbax eclipse xdb - c18 column ( 2.1 150 mm , 3.5 m ) .
the mobile phase was 0.1% formic acid in water and 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile ( 50/50 , v / v ) .
linear calibration curves were obtained in the concentration range of 12000.0 ng / ml , with a lower limit of quantification of 0.99 ng / ml . the intra- and interday precision ( rsd ) values were below 3% .
the method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of creatinine in chinese smokers and nonsmokers .
the total cotinine in 24 h urine and cotinine : creatinine ratio were also positively associated ( pearson r = 0.942 , p < 0.0001 )
. however , cotinine : creatinine ratio varied significantly across smoking groups for the difference of individual .
24 h urinary cotinine was more appropriate for expressing correlation with tar than cotinine : creatinine ratio . |
6,903 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: animals : adult male wistar - imamichi strain rats ( body weight ( bw ) , 220250 g ) were obtained from the imamichi institute for animal reproduction ( tsuchiura , japan ) .
the animals were housed at constant ambient temperature of 24c with controlled lighting ( lights on , 05001900 hr ) and given free access to food and water .
the experiments were conducted according to the guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals , graduate school of agricultural and life sciences , the university of tokyo .
stress conditions : on the day of the experiment , the rats were moved to the experimental room and allowed an adaptation period of at least 2 hr . three different types of stresses , namely infectious ( lps ; sigma , st .
louis , mo , u.s.a . ; 100 g / kg bw , ip ) , hypoglycemic ( 2dg ; sigma ; 400 mg / kg bw , ip ) or restraint ( 1 hr ) stresses were applied to rats .
animals were divided into 2 groups and given a selective cox-2 inhibitor ( ns-398 ; cayman chemical , ann arbor , mi , u.s.a . ;
10 mg / kg bw , ip ) or vehicle ( dmso ; sigma ) 30 min before stress application . just before stress application ( 0 min ) and 30 and 120 min after the start of stress application
, animals were decapitated , and the whole brain was removed and fixed in cold 4% paraformaldehyde in phosphate - buffered saline ( pbs ; 0.02 m , ph 7.2 ) .
immunohistochemistry for c - fos : brains were further fixed for 48 hr at 4c in the fixative paraformaldehyde solution and then submerged in 10% sucrose solution overnight , 20% sucrose solution for 24 hr and 30% sucrose for 48 hr until the brain completely sank .
brain sections of 30 m thickness were cut using a cryostat ( microm hm550 , thermo scientific , waltham , ma , u.s.a . ) and collected serially in 24-well plates containing pbs ( 0.02 m , ph 7.2 ) .
one out of every eight slices was used for immunostaining for c - fos protein .
sections were then incubated with 0.3% h2o2 in pbs for 30 min at room temperature and rinsed with pbs for 10 min three times .
thereafter ,... | abstractwe have previously suggested that activation of the hypothalamic - pituitary - adrenal ( hpa ) axis is dependent on cyclooxygenase ( cox)-2-related signaling under infectious and restraint stresses , but less dependent on it under hypoglycemic stress . in the present study
, we evaluated the neuronal activity in the brain to elucidate the possible mechanisms underlying a stress - specific relevance between cox-2-related signaling and activation of the hpa axis under infectious ( lipopolysaccharide , lps ) , hypoglycemic ( 2-deoxy - d - glucose , 2dg ) and restraint ( 1 hr ) stress conditions .
the number of c - fos - immunoreactive ( ir ) cells in several brain regions including the paraventricular nucleus ( pvn ) and supraoptic nucleus ( son ) was increased at 120 min after application of all stress stimuli .
the number of c - fos - ir cells at 30 min was increased only by 2dg in the son , but not in the pvn . in the pvn ,
a selective cox-2 inhibitor ( ns-398 ) did not affect the number of c - fos - ir cells at any time points .
on the other hand , in the son , ns-398 increased c - fos - ir cells at 30 min after lps and restraint stresses , but not after 2dg injection .
these results suggest that , among the brain regions responding to acute stresses , the pvn and son are commonly activated under three acute stresses .
in addition , it is also suggested that cox-2-related signaling decreases neuronal activity in the son under infectious and restraint , but not hypoglycemic , stresses , which may be involved in the suppression of the hpa axis . |
6,904 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: this study included 25 patients of both sexes with mandibular fractures in the age group of 18 - 48 years , presenting no medical contra indications for the planned procedure .
data collected from the patients included pre and postoperative panoramic radiographs , age at the time of injury , sex , and site of madibular fracture .
the sites of fractures in the mandible consisted symphysis , parasymphysis , body , and angle and excluded condylar fractures , all of which were treated with open reduction and internal fixation with conventional stainless steel miniplates ( 2 and 2.5 mm , 4 and 6 holes plates ) .
the patients were clinically and radiologically evaluated during preoperative , immediate postoperative , 6 weeks postoperative and during regular follow - ups .
all the patients were administered intravenous ampicillin 500 mg , metronidazole 400 mg , and intramuscular diclofenac sodium 50 mg postoperatively , which varied between 5 and 7 days .
the following clinical parameters were used :
mobility of the tooth involved in the fracturevitality of the tooth involved in the fracture .
mobility of the tooth involved in the fracture vitality of the tooth involved in the fracture .
the following radiological parameter was used :
teeth stabilizing the fracture segment .
teeth stabilizing the fracture segment
the anatomic location of mandibular fractures was 80% in the angle region and 20% in the parasymphysis region .
10 patients had grade ii and 10 patients had grade i mobility of the teeth in the line of fractures [ graph 1 ] .
pre - operative mobility totally , 15 patients with teeth in the line of fracture showed no response to cold pulp testing ( nonvital ) preoperatively .
rest 10 patients showed positive response for cold pulp testing ( vital ) [ graph 2 ] .
13 patients with their teeth in the line of fracture showed positive response ( vital ) and 12 patients showed no response to cold pulp testing during 1 week postoperative follow - up [ graph 3 ] .
pre - operative vitality 1st week post -... | introduction : the purpose of this study was to evaluate teeth involved in the line of fracture , clinically and radiographically , and their associated complications so as to indicate if they should be managed conservatively or extracted.materials and methods : data were collected from patients records treated of mandibular fractures . it was included pre and postoperative panoramic radiographs , information such as demographic data , age , and sex , fracture location , mobility , and vitality of teeth in the line of fracture , teeth stabilizing the fracture segment.results:the sample presented 25 patients with teeth in the line of mandibular fractures .
a total of 16 patients teeth in the line of fracture were vital during the 6th week postoperative follow - up and 9 patients with their teeth in the line of fracture were nonvital of which 4 were endodontically treated and the rest 5 patients teeth in the line of fracture were extracted as they showed signs of infection.conclusion:this study demonstrated that the presence of teeth in the line of fracture is not a limiting factor for the treatment . despite the risk of complications , tooth in the fracture line should be preserved for its merits .
a regular clinical and radiological follow - up should be mandatory for at least a period of 1 year . |
6,905 | Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them?
Study: there is strong epidemiological and genetic evidence that genetic factors play a major , though variable role , in its pathogenesis .
migraine patients are characterized between attacks on various cns - evoked responses by a deficit of habituation [ 1 , 2 ] , which may have a familial character [ 35 ] .
by contrast , other mild abnormalities have been identified that are unlikely to play a pathogenic role : a decreased safety factor at the neuromuscular junction on single fiber emg ( sfemg ) [ 79 ] and subclinical cerebellar hypermetria in the horizontal plane on opto - electronic analysis of upper arm - reaching movements .
if this is correct , one may expect that in the same individual they be of a similar degree .
we have therefore compared in the same migraine patient the sfemg and 3d - movement analysis .
thirteen migraine patients ( ichd - ii ) were recruited from the headache clinic of the headache research unit in lige , belgium .
eight patients suffering from typical aura with migraine headache ( mta ichd - ii code 1.2.1 ; three women and five men ; median age 28.5 years ; range 1367 ) and five patients with migraine without aura ( mo ichd - ii code 1.1 ; three women and two men ; median age 40.0 years ; range 3151 ) underwent both stimulation - sfemg and 3d - movement analysis .
none of them had any other medical condition detectable by history and clinical examination ; none was taking drugs on a regular basis , nor had taken any drug within 3 days before the recordings .
the recordings took place at least 3 days after and before an attack ( checked by telephone - interview ) .
the study was conducted after approval of our institution s ethics committee and performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 declaration of helsinki , with the understanding and consent of each involved subject .
a nicolet viking iv device ( nicolet biomedical , madison , wisconsin , usa ) was used for stimulation single fiber electromyography .
single muscle fiber activity was recorded with 25-mm... | in previous studies , we described subclinical abnormalities of neuromuscular transmission and cerebellar functions in migraineurs .
the aim of this study was to search if these two functions are correlated in the same patient .
thirteen migraineurs [ five without aura ( mo ) and eight with aura ( ma ) ] underwent both stimulation - sfemg and 3d - movement analysis . single fiber emg ( sfemg ) results were expressed as the mean value of consecutive differences
( mean mcd ) .
precision of arm - reaching movements ( measured with an infrared optoelectronic tracking system ) was expressed as the average deviation in the horizontal plane .
median values of mean mcd and mean horizontal deviation were not different between mo and ma .
however , in ma , but not in mo , both variables were positively correlated .
thus , we conclude that neuromuscular transmission and cerebellar functions are correlated in the same patient when affected by migraine with aura .
we suggest that this correlation might be due to a common molecular abnormality . |
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