Datasets:

scillm

/

scientific_papers-archive

like 4

Follow

scillm_su23 10

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: soft tissue sarcomas ( stss ) are a heterogeneous group of solid tumors that arise from embryonic mesenchymal cells and that have distinct clinical and pathological features . microscopically , arcinosarcomas are biphasic tumors comprising an intimate admixture of carcinomatous and sarcomatous components with an abrupt or gradual transition from one to the other . stss of the genitourinary ( gu ) tract are relatively rare , accounting for only 2.1% of all stss and 1% to 2% of all malignant gu tumors [ 1 - 3 ] . because of the rarity of urological stss , clinical data are limited and prognosis is often considered unpredictable . recently , several groups have reported their long - term experiences with gu stss and have investigated prognosis and prognostic factors [ 4 - 6 ] . although the consensus is that total surgical resection provides the patient the best chance for cure , there is no universal agreement concerning prognostic factors for gu stss . several analyses of prognostic factors influencing the overall survival ( os ) of patients with gu stss have revealed that tumor stage , grade , size , and anatomic site are important for patient survival . to the best of our knowledge , no prior study has investigated clinical outcomes and prognostic factors of gu stss in a korean patient population . in this study , we investigated prognostic factors of gu stss on the basis of 28 years of experience with these tumors at a single center in korea . between january 1982 and july 2009 , 48 patients who were histologically diagnosed with a gu sts at our institute were included in this study . sarcomas of the gu tract that originated from the kidney , ureter , bladder , prostate , paratesticular region , and retroperitoneum were included . sarcomas that originated from female genital organs such as the uterus , ovary , vulva , or vagina were excluded from this study . demographic and clinical data were retrieved by reviewing patients ' charts , clinical data , operative notes , radiological reports , and...

purposethe purpose of this study was to elucidate prognostic factors for survival and clinical outcomes of rological soft tissue sarcomas ( stss).materials and methodsthis was a retrospective review of the medical records of 48 patients with urological sts treated from january 1982 to july 2009 . demographic and pathological characteristics were compared . patients ' demographics , clinico - pathological parameters , overall survival , and the factors expected to predict survival , such as sex , age at diagnosis , primary organ , surgical resection , metastasis , and mass size , were analyzed . we evaluated differences in survival on the basis of histological subtype by kaplan - meier analysis and multivariate cox proportional hazards regression.resultsthe study included 34 males ( 70.8% ) and 14 females ( 29.1% ) . the mean age at diagnosis was 47.1 years ( range , 3 to 80 ) . the most common site was the retroperitoneum ( n=16 ) , followed by the kidney ( n=12 ) , prostate ( n=10 ) , bladder ( n=7 ) , ureter ( n=1 ) , and paratesticular region ( n=1 ) . nineteen patients ( 39.5% ) had other organ metastases at diagnosis . the most common subtypes of sarcoma were leiomyosarcoma ( 50% ) , rhabdomyosarcoma ( 18.7% ) , and liposarcoma ( 8% ) . the remaining 11 cases had other histological subtypes ( 22.9% ) . mean tumor size was 9.5 cm ( range , 2.2 to 24 ) . thirty - three patients ( 68.7% ) underwent surgical resection . the overall survival rate at 5 years was 51.4% . in the univariate and multivariate analysis , surgical resection , primary tumor site , and metastasis at diagnosis remained significant predictors of prognosis . patients with retroperitoneal sarcoma had a higher overall survival rate by 5 years compared with patients with other organ sarcoma.conclusionsthe overall survival rate at 5 years was 51.4% . surgical resection , primary tumor site , and metastasis at diagnosis remained significant predictors of prognosis .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: traumatic cerebral aneurysms with carotid cavernous fistula ( ccf ) are rare and difficult to treat by surgery . if left untreated mortality rate of 50% is reported in these cases . hence , the presence of these lesions should be diagnosed and treated at the earliest in order to prevent the untoward effects due to their poor prognosis . a 40-year - old man presented to the emergency room following a road traffic accident . computed tomography scan of the brain ( plain ) revealed frontal hematoma , intraventricular hemorrhage , and subarachnoid hemorrhage with depressed skull fracture . on the 4 day of hospitalization , he developed increasing proptosis and conjunctival congestion [ figure 1a ] . magnetic resonance ( mr ) imaging showed hyperintense signals in the basal cisterns suggestive of subarachnoid hemorrhage on t1-weighted sequence . time of flight mr angiogram maximum intensity projection image showed abnormal communication between internal carotid artery and cavernous sinus . however , the precise location of the rent was not identified [ figure 1b and c ] . digital subtraction angiogram of the left internal carotid artery showed intradural aneurysm ( caused by the trauma ) , which was seen communicating inferiorly with cavernous sinus , basillar plexus , and petrosal sinus [ figure 2a and b ] . balloon occlusion test was not tolerated and hence we chose to occlude the aneurysm and the fistulous communication ( preserving the parent artery ) over parent vessel occlusion . 40-year - old male accident victim with skull fracture presented with increasing left - sided proptosis which was diagnosed as carotid cavernous fistula due to rupture of intradural aneurysm . ( b ) t1-weighted magnetic resonance ( mr ) imaging done shows hyperintensity in the basal cisterns suggestive of subarachnoid hemorrhage ( arrow ) . ( c ) time of flight mr angiogram shows the fistulous communication on the left side ( arrow ) . digital subtraction angiograms of left internal carotid artery in the ( a ) left oblique and ( b )...

carotid cavernous fistulae ( ccf ) are abnormal communication between cavernous segment of the internal carotid artery and cavernous sinus . these entities are usually encountered in 0.2 - 0.8% of patients with traumatic skull base fractures . traumatic cerebral aneurysms are rare and account for less than 1% of intracranial aneurysms . ccf due to ruptured intradural traumatic aneurysm is very rare and difficult to treat by surgical methods . we present one such case of a 40-year - old man with post - traumatic ccf due to a ruptured intradural aneurysm successfully treated with endovascular embolization .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: water channels of the aquaporin ( aqp ) family achieve the diffusive water permeation required for biological function and form tetramers . since the discovery of the first water channel , aqp1 , more than 300 aqps have been identified in many organisms from bacteria to plants and mammals . aqp family members are classified into two subfamilies : an aqp group that is highly selective for water , and an aquaglyceroporin group that allows both water and other small neutral solutes , like glycerol and urea , to permeate the membrane . thirteen aqps ( aqp0 to 12 ) have been identified in mammals and 5 mammalian aqps have been solved at atomic resolution . the first atomic structure of human aqp1 was determined by electron crystallography , which revealed the unique aqp fold with six transmembrane helices ( termed h1h6 ) and two short pore helices ( termed hb and he ) , together with the highly conserved asn - pro - ala ( npa ) motifs in the middle of the membrane . each aqp monomer has a channel pore , and the individual pores work independently within a functional tetramer . in the channel pathway , the narrowest region , which is located between the npa motif and the extracellular pore entrance , is called the ar / r ( aromatic / arginine ) constriction site . in the aqp group , the width of the ar / r site is the same as the diameter of a water molecule . aqp4 is a water selective channel that is predominantly expressed in the brain , but also expressed in other tissues . there are three functional splicing isoforms of aqp4 and their expression ratio determines the size of the orthogonal arrays that aqp4 forms in the endfeet of astrocytes . the long aqp4 isoform with a full n - terminus starting with met1 ( aqp4m1 ) contains palmitoylated cysteines and thus sterically impedes the formation of arrays , whereas the short isoform starting with met23 ( aqp4m23 ) easily forms arrays due to the absence of palmitoylation sites . a recently discovered functional isoform , aqp4e , has 41 residues extending from the n -...

acetazolamide ( aza ) reduces the water permeability of aquaporin-4 , the predominant water channel in the brain . we determined the structure of aquaporin-4 in the presence of aza using electron crystallography . most of the features of the 5- density map were consistent with those of the previously determined atomic model . the map showed a protruding density from near the extracellular pore entrance , which most likely represents the bound aza . molecular docking simulations supported the location of the protrusion as the likely aza - binding site . these findings suggest that aza reduces water conduction by obstructing the pathway at the extracellular entrance without inducing a large conformational change in the protein .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: developmental disabilities ( dd ) are a chronic delay in development , including conditions such as cerebral palsy , intellectual development disorder , autism , and mixed type dd . children with dd have problems with physical , cognitive , social , sensory , and communication skills2 . these unique problems have a negative impact on the lives of their family as well as of the children with dd1 . among the problems faced by children with dd , impairment in cognitive function and visual perception causes problems in processing environmental stimuli , which makes it difficult for them to adapt to their environment and live in independently2 . after entering elementary school , due to an increase in demanding activities of daily living , problems caused by impairments of cognitive function and visual perception become more evident3 . as compared to prior to school entry , school - aged children are required to complete tasks within a limited time at school or home and are expected to exhibit sophistication and organization in their activities4 . the literature indicates that there are intervention methods to improve cognitive function and visual perception in children with dd , such as attention training programs , sensory integration , and tabletop activities5 , 6 . these methods are remedial approaches to restore and facilitate the improvement of cognitive function and visual perception caused by dd7 . although various conventional treatment methods for children with dd have been applied in clinical settings , the controversies over the most effective protocol continues8 . in order to compensate for these problems , recently computer - based cognitive rehabilitation ( cbcr ) has been used in clinical settings8 . several studies concluded that cbcr was an effective treatment for recovery of cognitive function and visual perception9 . however , most such studies recruited adults or the elderly with stroke , traumatic brain injury , or dementia10 . few studies have...

[ purpose ] this study aimed to investigate the effects of a computer - based cognitive rehabilitation program for children with developmental disabilities . [ subjects ] subjects included 29 children with developmental disabilities . [ methods ] the subjects were randomly allocated to either the experimental group or control group . experimental group subjects received computer - based cognitive rehabilitation using the cotras - c while control group subjects received conventional cognitive rehabilitation . all subjects received 20 sessions ( 2 days a week for 10 weeks ) of the experimental or control intervention for 30 minutes . to compare the two groups , the korean - developmental test of visual perception-2 and kaufman assessment battery for children were performed before and after the intervention . [ results ] both groups showed statistically significant improvement in their scores after intervention . additionally , there were significant differences in the scores between the two groups . [ conclusion ] the computer - based cognitive rehabilitation with cotras - c may be helpful in improving the recovery of cognitive function and visual perception in children with developmental disabilities .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: to determine the accuracy of the holladay 1 , hoffer q , sanders - retzlaff - kraff ( srk)/t , and srk ii iol power calculation formulas in patients with high myopia in a subset of indian population . this study was conducted at sadguru netra chikitsalaya , chitrakoot , madhya pradesh , india . all consecutive patients attending our out patient department ( opd ) for phacoemusification with axial length ( al ) more than 24.5 mm ( range 24.75 - 32.35 mm ) between may 2009-october 2009 ( in all patients hydrophilic acrylic foldable within the bag iol was implanted ) . pre - existing astigmatism > 3.0 diopters ( d)corneal scarkeratoconuscomplications significantly affecting the refractive status ( vitreous loss with iol implanted in sulcus or anterior chamber , high wound induced astigmatism ) . pre - existing astigmatism > 3.0 diopters ( d ) complications significantly affecting the refractive status ( vitreous loss with iol implanted in sulcus or anterior chamber , high wound induced astigmatism ) . in our study , keratometry measurements were retrieved from records and a scan applanation ultrasonography was done on echorule2 and analyzed . the implanted iol power was used to calculate the predicted postoperative refractive error by four commercially available iol formulas : srk ii , srk - t , holladay 1 , and hoffer q. with each formula , the mean error ( me ) was calculated from the difference between the formula predicted refractive error and actual postoperative refractive error . the spherical equivalent was measured by a single trained optometrist using an autorefractor and subjective retinoscopy 1 - 2 months after cataract surgery . repeated measures anova tests were done after making bonferroni corrections to have pair - wise comparisons between the formulas and p < 0.05 was considered as significant . this study was conducted at sadguru netra chikitsalaya , chitrakoot , madhya pradesh , india . all consecutive patients attending our out patient department ( opd ) for phacoemusification with axial...

efficacy of intraocular lens power calculation formulas in a subset of indian myopic population . retrospectively reviewed 43 patients who underwent phacoemulsification with high axial length ( al ) ( > 24.5 mm , range 24.75 - 32.35 mm ) . the power of the implanted intraocular lens ( iol ) was used to calculate the predicted post - operative refractive error by four formulas : sanders - retzlaff - kraff ( srk ii ) , srk / t , holladay 1 , and hoffer q. the predictive accuracy of the formulas was analyzed by comparing the difference between the actual and predicted postoperative refractive errors . repeated measures analysis of variance ( anova ) tests were done to have pair - wise comparisons between the formulas and p < 0.05 was considered significant . a subcategory of axial length 24.5 - 26.5 mm was also tested . holladay 1 , hoffer q and srk / t formulas showed a slight tendency toward resultant hyperopia , with mean error of + 0.24 diopters ( d ) , + 0.58 d , and + 0.92 d , respectively . the holladay 1 formula provided the best predictive result overall .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: chronic low back pain ( lbp ) has long been one of the most common causes of disability in adults and is a very frequent condition among early retirees in industrialized societies . degenerative disc disease ( ddd ) is the most frequent problem in patients with lbp . in 1988 , modic et al . thereafter , the medical term modic changes ( mc ) has appeared in various studies on spinal degenerative diseases . the prevalence of mc among patients with ddd of the lumbar spine varies between 19% and 59% . mc of types 1 and 2 are more common than those of type 3 and mixed changes . mc are considered a magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) parameter determining morphological changes in spinal degenerative diseases . mc are thought to occur because of environmental , genetic , hormonal , mechanical , and degenerative factors , as well as because of the interaction of several unknown factors . among the environmental factors , dietary habits and trends of ddd patients however , their significance in the monitoring and treatment of the disease remains unclear . it is the single most common cause of disability in individuals aged over 45 years and the second most common reason for primary care physician visits5,6,7 . the risk factors associated with ddd include advanced age , socioeconomic status , torsional stress , smoking , obesity , heavy lifting , vibration , trauma , immobilization , psychosocial factors , gender , height , hereditary and genetic factors , and occupations like machine drivers , carpenters , and office workers8,9,10,11,12 . mc have been described as being strongly associated with lbp13,14,15 . according to modic et al . , these changes visible on mri scans can be classified into three different types14 , 15 . type 1 changes are seen on t2-weighted mri as areas of high signal intensity and on t1-weighted mri as areas of low signal intensity extending from the vertebral endplates . histological examination of material harvested during surgery has shown that mc type...

[ purpose ] this study was conducted to examine the association between modic classification and the eating habits in patients with degenerative disc disease ( ddd ) and to determine the influence of nutrition on disease severity . [ subjects and methods ] sixty patients with ddd visiting a low back pain outpatient clinic were enrolled . through face - to - face interviews , they completed questionnaires regarding their demographics , disease activity , smoking and alcohol use , concomitant diseases , disease duration , and nutritional status.exclusion criteria were age < 20 years or > 65 years , other comorbidities , missing mri data , and inability to speak turkish . [ results ] forty patients were finally included in the study . the frequency with which they consumed water , salt , fast food , eggs , milk , yogurt , cheese , whole wheat bread , white bread , butter , and margarine was recorded . a weak negative correlation was observed between the modic types and fish and egg consumption . [ conclusion ] modic changes , which indicate the severity of ddd , seem to be correlated to patients dietary habits . however , studies with comparison groups and larger samples are needed to confirm our promising results before any cause - and - effect relationship can be proposed .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: hepatitis b virus ( hbv ) infection can cause infectious liver diseases , and about 400 million people throughout the world are chronically infected with this virus ( 1 , 2 ) , which has a high risk of progression to the development of liver failure , liver cirrhosis , and hepatocellular carcinoma ( 1 ) . according to the similarity in the sequence of hbv , this virus is classified into eight genotypes and named using capital alphabet letters ( a to h ) ( 3 ) . recently , two other genotypes ( i and j ) were proposed for hbv ( 4 , 5 ) . the replication of hbv involves a unique process , which is the production of covalently closed circular dna ( cccdna ) from the hbv genome through the repair of relaxed circular dna ( rcdna ) in the nuclei of hepatocytes . the cccdna acts as the template for viral rna transcription that serves as a viral pregenomic messenger rna ( mrna ) , or as messenger rna coding for the envelope ( s ) , polymerase , core , and x proteins ( 7 ) . most of the antiviral agents have a profound effect on rcdna whereas low or no effect on cccdna ( the episomal form of hbv ) ( 8 , 9 ) . relapse of hbv replication after discontinuation of antiviral therapy is not uncommon and may be the result of the persistence of viral cccdna . it has been shown that monitoring of cccdna of hbv in liver biopsy specimens may be a valuable marker for virus eradication ( 10 ) . although detection and quantification of cccdna in liver biopsy samples is the gold standard ( 11 ) , it should be noted that liver biopsy is not always possible . therefore , the detection of cccdna should be performed on other samples , when a liver biopsy specimen is not available . recent studies have indicated that the hbv cccdna level is a marker of hbv replication in the hepatocytes of hbv - infected patients ( 12 ) . hepatitis b surface antigen ( hbsag ) level is an important marker of infection with hbv and it can be used to diagnose , manage , and monitor patients . also , the level of hbsag in the plasma of hbv - infected...

background : covalently closed circular dna ( cccdna ) of hepatitis b virus ( hbv ) is a marker of hbv replication in the liver of patients infected with hbv.objectives:this study aimed to investigate the association between the presence of cccdna in the plasma samples of iranian treatment - naive patients with chronic hepatitis b infection and hbv viral load and hbsag levels.patients and methods : from april 2012 to may 2015 , 106 treatment - naive patients with chronic hepatitis b infection were enrolled in this cross - sectional study . the hbsag titer was measured by the roche hbsag ii assay on the cobas e411 system , and hbv dna quantitation was performed using the cobas taqman 48 kit . real - time polymerase chain reaction was performed for the detection of hbv cccdna.results:the mean ( sd ) age of the patients was 41.1 12.4 years ( range , 20 - 62 years ) . from a total of 106 study participants , 67 ( 63.2% ) were males . the hbv cccdna was detected in plasma specimens in 19 ( 17.9% ) out of the total 106 patients , and a significant relationship was found between the presence of cccdna in plasma sample of males ( 23.9% ) and females ( 7.7% ) ( p = 0.039 ) . also , a significant correlation was found between the presence of cccdna in plasma sample of the patients and hbv viral load level ( p < 0.0001 ) and hbsag titer ( p = 0.0043).conclusions : this study showed that cccdna can be detected in the plasma specimen of 17.9% of iranian treatment - naive patients with chronic hepatitis b infection . therefore , designing prospective studies focusing on the detection of cccdna in these patients would provide more information .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: early childhood caries is a complex disease involving the maxillary primary incisors within a month after eruption and spreads rapidly to involve other primary teeth.1 it is a serious socio - behavioral and dental problem that afflicts infants and toddlers worldwide.2 the definitions of ecc in the published literature vary , making comparisons among studies difficult.1,3 for example , some of the definitions have included 1 or more incisors with decay,4 2 or more incisors with decay,5 and even 3 or 4 maxillary incisors with decay.6 therefore , in 2003 , the american academy of pediatric dentistry ( aapd ) defined ecc as the presence of one or more decayed ( noncavitated or cavitated ) , missing ( due to caries ) , or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a child up to 71 months of age or younger . the academy also specifies that , in children younger than 3 years of age , any sign of smooth surface caries is indicative of severe early childhood caries ( s - ecc ) . from ages 3 through 5 , 1 or more cavitated , missing ( due to caries ) or filled smooth surfaces in primary maxillary anterior teeth or decayed , missing , or filled score of 4 ( age 3 ) , or 5 ( age 4 ) , or 6 ( age 5 ) surfaces constitutes s - ecc.7 ecc is a multi - factorial disease.2 the factors include a susceptible host , fermentable carbohydrate diet , presence of dental plaque , high number of cariogenic micro - organisms such as mutans streptococci , lactobacillus and time.8 it is also thought that there may be unique risk factors for caries in infants and young children . ecc has been associated with demographic characteristics , oral hygiene practices , parental attitudes , educational status of mother , socio - economic status , temperament of the child , mouth breathing habit , siblings , pacifiers dipped in honey , children with chronic illness or special health care needs and other feeding habits , maternal nutrition , psychosocial issues , frequent use of medications and parenting practice.915 even ethnicity has been...

objectives : early childhood caries ( ecc ) is a devastating form of dental decay with multi - factorial origin . the aim of this cross - sectional study is to investigate the prevalence and related risk factors of ecc in preschool children of urban bangalore ( india).methods : a random sample of 1,500 children aged between 8 and 48 months were selected from various parts of urban bangalore . the status of dental caries was recorded according to the world health organization ( who ) criteria . information regarding oral hygiene practices , feeding habits , socio - economic status , birth weight , and educational status of the mother was obtained through a structured questionnaire given to mothers of preschool children . the data was subjected to statistical analysis using the statistical package for social sciences ( spss ) version 12.results:the prevalence of ecc in preschool children was 27.5% , while the mean deft was 0.854 . ecc increased significantly with age . children whose mothers had no schooling and those who belonged to low socioeconomic group showed higher caries prevalence . a significant increase in caries prevalence was found in children accustomed to the practice of on - demand breast feeding and bottle feeding at night . caries also increased significantly when snacks were consumed between meals . however , increased frequency of tooth - brushing , parental supervision , use of a baby toothbrush , and fluoridated dentifrice significantly decreased caries prevalence.conclusion:ecc is a serious public health problem in this population and measures to increase awareness should be undertaken . the target candidates for oral health promotion programs should include mothers , general dentists , pediatricians , nurses , primary care health workers , care - takers at day - care centers and gynecologists .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: dissolved organic carbon ( doc ) export from mangrove swamps accounts for 10% of the global terrestrial flux of doc to coastal oceans . given recent reports of high concentrations of mercury ( hg ) in mangrove tissues and mangrove marsh waters , and the known high affinity of hg species for doc in surface waters , there is concern that a large hg flux may accompany the doc flux from mangroves . in other aquatic environments , transport of hg species is intimately linked to the transport of doc because of strong complexation , particularly in tidal wetlands . elevated mercury levels have long been reported in coastal aquatic food webs from areas near the extensive mangrove swamps of southwest florida . in recent years , hg concentrations in some fish and wading birds in the everglades have declined , but concomitant declines have not been observed in florida bay species . these decoupled trends suggest that mitigation efforts may have diminished the terrestrial accumulation of hg but have not similarly benefited coastal food webs , perhaps because the hg source to coastal food webs is different than that of the uplands . methylmercury ( mehg ) , the form of hg that bioaccumulates , has several potential sources in coastal waters : it may be produced in low - oxygen environments in terrestrial systems and then exported to coastal waters ; it may be produced in coastal wetlands such as mangroves and then tidally pumped into surrounding waters ; or it may be produced within estuarine and coastal sediments . although elevated tissue concentrations of hg and mehg are known to occur in mangroves and high concentrations of aqueous hg and mehg have been reported in mangrove - dominated environments , remarkably little is known about the magnitudes of hg and mehg export from mangrove swamps into coastal and estuarine waters . this study sought to characterize the export of doc and hg from the mesohaline estuarine mangrove swamps and fresher interior sawgrass ...

the flux of dissolved organic carbon ( doc ) from mangrove swamps accounts for 10% of the global terrestrial flux of doc to coastal oceans . recent findings of high concentrations of mercury ( hg ) and methylmercury ( mehg ) in mangroves , in conjunction with the common co - occurrence of doc and hg species , have raised concerns that mercury fluxes may also be large . we used a novel approach to estimate export of doc , hg , and mehg to coastal waters from a mangrove - dominated estuary in everglades national park ( florida , usa ) . using in situ measurements of fluorescent dissolved organic matter as a proxy for doc , filtered total hg , and filtered mehg , we estimated the doc yield to be 180 ( 12.6 ) g c m2 yr1 , which is in the range of previously reported values . although hg and mehg yields from tidal mangrove swamps have not been previously measured , our estimated yields of hg species ( 28 4.5 g total hg m2 yr1 and 3.1 0.4 g methyl hg m2 yr1 ) were five times greater than is typically reported for terrestrial wetlands . these results indicate that in addition to the well documented contributions of doc , tidally driven export from mangroves represents a significant potential source of hg and mehg to nearby coastal waters .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: benign cystic lesions of the knee region in the form of fluid collections in synovial recesses , bursae , and ganglion cysts are common and often discovered incidentally in routine magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) examinations . mr has proved to be superior compared to other imaging techniques in the detection of cystic lesions of the knee [ 1 , 2 ] and add information of the anatomical relationship with adjacent structures and concurrent knee pathologies . the prevalence of cystic lesions has been described in both symptomatic and asymptomatic knees in previous studies [ 46 ] but only a few studies have examined the association between occupation - related kneeling and squatting and knee pathologies demonstrated by mri . based on mri , amin et al . showed that both heavy lifting and frequent kneeling and squatting increased the risk for knee cartilage degeneration , particularly at the patellofemoral ( pf ) joint , and we have in a previous study showed that occupational kneeling increases the risk of degenerative tears in the medial meniscus . however , to our knowledge , no previous mri studies have examined the relationship between occupational kneeling and the prevalence of intra- and periarticular cyst - like lesions of the knee joint . biomechanical studies have shown that tibiofemoral ( tf ) contact forces increase considerably during deep knee flexion and force joint fluid into the posterior part of the knee joint [ 912 ] . direct and indirect loading of the knee joint during kneeling work demands could , therefore , be a predisposing factor in the development of both intra- and periarticular disorders of the knee joint . many workers in the construction industry are exposed to knee - straining work activities but floor layers are particularly exposed . studies have shown that floor layers on average spend 4050% of the daily work time in kneeling work positions and that floor layers have a significantly increased prevalence of knee complaints [ 1316 ] . however , the high prevalence of knee...

objective . to determine the risk of intra- and periarticular cyst - like lesions of the knee joint in occupational kneeling . methods . magnetic resonance imaging of both knees ( n = 282 ) was conducted in 92 male floor layers and 49 male graphic designers ( referents ) , with a mean age of 55.6 years ( range 4270 years ) . the prevalence of cyst - like lesions was computed among floor layers and graphic designers , respectively , and associations with occupation summarized by odds ratio ( or ) with 95% confidence intervals ( cis ) . using logistic regression , models were adjusted for age , body mass index , knee injuries , and knee - straining sports . results . floor layers had a significantly higher prevalence of cyst - like lesions in the posterior part of the knee joint compared to graphic designers ( or 2.70 , 95% ci 1.504.84 ) . floor layers also had a higher prevalence of fluid collections in the popliteus tendon recess ( or 2.17 , 95% ci 0.994.77 ) and large cystic lesions of the popliteus muscle ( or 3.83 , 95% ci 0.7818.89 ) . the prevalence of cystic lesions in the anterior part of the knee joint was low among floor layers ( 8.7% ) and there was no significant difference between the two trade groups ( p = 0.34 ) . conclusions . occupational kneeling increases the risk of cyst - like lesions in the posterior part of the knee joint .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the term groove pancreatitis was first used in 1973 by becker to describe a specific form of chronic pancreatitis that resulted in scarring , which extended into the anatomic space ( groove ) between the pancreatic head , duodenum , and common bile duct . more recently , preoperative diagnosis of groove pancreatitis has been emphasized to avoid unnecessary radical surgery . groove pancreatitis is not common , and only one case was recorded , but not published , in korea . a 46-year old man was admitted to our hospital with severe postprandial abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant . he complained of right upper abdominal pain that lasted for six months and weight loss of 12 kg over the same period . during the last few weeks iu / l ) , total bilirubin 0.5 mg / dl ( normal range 0.21.2 ) , alkaline phosphatase 69 iu / l ) , and alt 20 iu / l ( normal range 544 iu / l ) . tumor markers were also within normal range : carcinoembryonic antigen 1.46 ng / ml ( normal range < 5.0 iu / l ) and carbohydrate antigen 19 - 9 3.17 u / ml ( normal range < 39 iu / l ) . abdominal ultrasonography showed a non - homogeneous mass measuring 32 mm in diameter between the pancreatic head , descending duodenum , and common bile duct , as well as swelling of the pancreatic head ( figure 1 ) . endoscopy revealed duodenal wall thickening adjacent to the major papilla , with narrowing of the duodenal lumen . computed tomography ( ct ) revealed swelling of the pancreatic head and a non - homogeneously enhanced , low - density area between the pancreatic head , descending duodenum , and common bile duct ( figure 2a ) . the head of the pancreas was enhanced on contrast ct scan and peripancreatic vessel encasement was not seen ( figure 2b ) . mr images revealed a mass between the pancreatic head , duodenum , and common bile duct that was hypointense on t1-weighted images ( figure 3a ) and hypointense relative to the pancreatic head on t2-weighted images ( figure 3b ) . on t1-weighted images , we observed the medial wall thickening...

groove pancreatitis is a special form of chronic pancreatitis in which scarring is found mainly in the groove between the pancreatic head , duodenum , and common bile duct . preoperative differentiation between groove pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer is difficult . here we report one case of segmental groove pancreatitis diagnosed by clinical and radiological features . the patient was a 46-year old man with severe abdominal pain , weight loss , and a long history of alcohol abuse . computed tomography revealed swelling of the pancreatic head and a heterogeneously enhanced low - density lesion in the groove . mr images revealed a mass in the groove that had a low signal on t1-weighted images and a low signal relative to the pancreatic head on t2-weighted images . t1-weighted images on dynamic study showed the medial wall thickening of descending duodenum , several small cysts in the groove and thickened duodenal wall . the patient has been under conservative treatment for 2 months and his severe abdominal pain has improved .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: ion channels are membrane proteins that provide a pathway for the movement of ions into or out of all cells and are critical for all physiological processes . some channels discriminate poorly among various ions and some are quite selective , allowing passage of predominantly only one or very few types of ions . in certain subtypes of ion channels , that is , the availability of the pathway is controlled by voltage or a ligand or , in some cases , by both . over the last few decades , considerable effort has been directed toward identifying the part of the protein that forms the physical gate of the channel . much of this work has been focused on voltage - gated k ( kv ) channels , and a clear picture has evolved . the pioneering work of armstrong ( 1966 , 1971 ) probing squid axon k channels with tetraethyl ammonium ions and other quaternary ammonium ( qa ) compounds led to the idea that the gate was located on the cytoplasmic side of the protein . a key finding was that these blocking ions have access to their binding site in the channel pore only from the intracellular end of the channel and only when the channel is open . larger ions including the long - chain qa analogue decyltriethylammonium , c10 , and peptides based on the shaker inactivation ball peptide ( bp ) are also open - channel blockers and are trapped by or interfere with the closing of the activation gate , results that add further evidence that the physical location of the gate is toward the cytoplasmic end of kv channels ( armstrong and hille , 1972 ; yeh and armstrong , 1978 ; zagotta et al . , 1990 ; demo and yellen , 1991 ; toro et al . , 1992 ; choi et al . , 1993 ; holmgren et al . , additional studies using the shaker kv channel as a model ( holmgren et al . , 1997 ; liu et al . , 1997 ; del camino et al . , 2000 ; del camino and yellen , 2001 ) identified parts of the sixth membrane - spanning region ( s6 ) that could be chemically modified whether the channels were open or closed and other regions in s6 , more toward the...

membrane voltage controls the passage of ions through voltage - gated k ( kv ) channels , and many studies have demonstrated that this is accomplished by a physical gate located at the cytoplasmic end of the pore . critical to this determination were the findings that quaternary ammonium ions and certain peptides have access to their internal pore - blocking sites only when the channel gates are open , and that large blocking ions interfere with channel closing . although an intracellular location for the physical gate of kv channels is well established , it is not clear if such a cytoplasmic gate exists in all k+ channels . some studies on large - conductance , voltage- and ca2 + -activated k+ ( bk ) channels suggest a cytoplasmic location for the gate , but other findings question this conclusion and , instead , support the concept that bk channels are gated by the pore selectivity filter . if the bk channel is gated by the selectivity filter , the interactions between the blocking ions and channel gating should be influenced by the permeant ion . thus , we tested tetrabutyl ammonium ( tba ) and the shaker ball peptide ( bp ) on bk channels with either k+ or rb+ as the permeant ion . when tested in k+ solutions , both tba and the bp acted as open - channel blockers of bk channels , and the bp interfered with channel closing . in contrast , when rb+ replaced k+ as the permeant ion , tba and the bp blocked both closed and open bk channels , and the bp no longer interfered with channel closing . we also tested the cytoplasmically gated shaker k channels and found the opposite behavior : the interactions of tba and the bp with these kv channels were independent of the permeant ion . our results add significantly to the evidence against a cytoplasmic gate in bk channels and represent a positive test for selectivity filter gating .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the study was approved by the university malaya medical centre ( ummc ) medical ethics committee .

staphylococcus haemolyticus is one of the pathogens that harbor a high level of antibiotic resistance . here , we highlighted the potential determinants for multidrug resistance and virulence from the draft genome of staphylococcus haemolyticus strain c10a , isolated from a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: cell transplantation into the damaged myocardium ( cell therapy ) has received extensive attention as a regenerative tool , and the accumulated evidence from both pre - clinical and clinical studies suggests that it has the potential to restore heart function . currently , cellular cardiomyoplasty is being actively explored as therapy for regenerating the damaged myocardium , using different cell types , mostly derived from bone marrow or skeletal muscle . the clinical trials have highlighted the need to improve survival , engraftment and differentiation of the transplanted cells . clearly a number of issues remain including the number of cells , the choice of an appropriate cell source that is able to provide all the main cell types of the heart and also the poor retention of the transplanted cells . in this review we will focus on cardiac tissue engineering ( cte ) , with particular attention to the improvements that this methodology can offer compared to conventional cell injection therapy . during the last few years , cellular therapy for the diseased heart has shown encouraging results on cardiac function in animal models of heart ischemia , using a variety of different cells , even without clear cardiovascular differentiation of the transplanted cells . several years after the first human clinical applications using non - cardiac stem cells as a therapy for acute myocardial infarction , heart failure or refractory angina , it should be recognized that the results are mixed , with benefits ranging from absent to transient , but marginal at most . pre - clinical studies demonstrated promising results and also short - term effects in patients were observed ; however , in most trials long - term follow - up has shown that conventional pharmacological therapy often has the same late outcome as cellular therapy . cell therapy decreased the death rate of the endogenous myocytes , improved neoangiogenesis or positively affected ventricular remodelling in short - term follow - up , probably by secretion of...

abstracttissue engineering is an increasingly expanding area of research in the cardiovascular field that involves engineering , chemistry , biology and medicine . cardiac tissue engineering ( cte ) aims to regenerate myocardial damage by combining cells , matrix , biological active molecules and physiological stimuli . the rationale behind cte applications is that in order to regenerate the ventricular wall after a myocardial infarction it is necessary to combine procedures that regenerate both cardiomyocytes and the extracellular matrix . the application of ( stem ) cells together with a matrix could represent an environment protected from the inflammatory and pro - apoptotic signals , a stemness / survival reservoir slowly releasing cells and factors promoting tissue regeneration and angiogenesis . this review will focus on the applications and advantages that cte application could offer compared to conventional cell therapy .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: dokonano analizy dokumentacji medycznej pacjentw z samoistn odm opucnow leczonych w klinice chirurgii dziecicej uniwersytetu medycznego w biaymstoku . w latach 20042014 hospitalizowano 22 dzieci z powodu samoistnej odmy opucnowej 18 chopcw i 4 dziewczynki , w wieku od 14 do 17 lat ( rednio 16,6 miesica ) . w 11 przypadkach ( 52% ) w leczeniu jednostronnej odmy opucnowej zastosowano jednorazowy drena jamy opucnowej , z dobrym skutkiem . w pozostaych 11 przypadkach wystpi nawrt odmy , w czasie od 3 tygodni do 2 lat . u pacjentw z odm nawrotow wykonano drena jamy opucnowej oraz tomografi komputerow ( tk ) klatki piersiowej . szeciu pacjentw z tej grupy , na podstawie obrazu tk , w ktrym stwierdzono obecno pcherzy rozedmowych , zakwalifikowano do torakoskopii ( video - assisted thoracoscopic surgery vats ) . w trakcie vats wykonano zamknicie przetok oskrzelowo - opucnowych w obrbie pknitych pcherzy rozedmowych za pomoc ptli endoloop . u chopca , u ktrego nie stwierdzono efektu terapeutycznego po vats , wykonano minitorakotomi z dostpu pod pach za pomoc staplera usunito szczyt puca oraz wykonano pleurodez , z dobrym skutkiem . poznanie czynnikw ryzyka powstania nawrotowej samoistnej odmy opucnowej pozwala na kwalifikowanie chorych do odpowiednich , maoinwazyjnych procedur leczniczych vats . w przypadku niepowodzenia vats , minitorakotomia pachowa zapewnia powodzenie leczenia , zaoszczdzajc choremu blu pooperacyjnego i zapewniajc dobry efekt kosmetyczny . a primary spontaneous pneumothorax ( psp ) is defined as a spontaneously occurring pneumothorax in a person without clinically apparent underlying lung disease or trauma . the psp occurs at a frequency of 7.4 - 18 cases per 100,000 population per year in men and 1.2 - 6 cases per 100,000 population per year in women . the psp typically occurs in young adults ( peak age incidence 20 - 30 years ) and is uncommon in the paediatric population [ 2 , 3 ] . therefore the research on psp has focused on management strategies in adults , and paediatric population data...

introductionprimary spontaneous pneumothorax ( psp ) occurs at a frequency of 7.4 - 18 cases per 100 000 population per year . the psp typically occurs in young adults and is uncommon in children . the aim of this study was to review our institutional experience with psp in children.material and methodstwenty - two paediatric patients with confirmed psp , treated from 2004 to 2014 at the paediatric surgery clinic . there were 18 boys and 4 girls . the mean age was 16 years , 6 months 1 month ( range 14 - 17 ) . the mean body mass index ( bmi ) was 20.1 ( ranging from 17 to 24).resultsthe recurrence rate of psp was 48% . the mean interval of the recurrence was 5 months 1 month ( range from 3 weeks to 2 years ) . recurrent pneumothorax was evacuated by thoracostomy with success in four patients . the first video - assisted thoracoscopic surgery ( vats ) procedure had a failure rate of 50% . after second vats procedure , we did not observe recurrent psp in two patients . one patient with recurrent psp , after two vats procedures , was treated with success , with an open mini axillary thoracotomy . the mean follow - up period was 4 years 3 months 1 month ( range 6 months 10 years ) . we have not noted any intraoperative complications.conclusionsalthough our study is limited by the small number of patients , we conclude that most patients resolve their spontaneous pneumothorax and air leak with tube thoracostomy alone . for those patients in whom chest tube drainage is not effective , and for those with recurrent psp , early vats and bullectomy combined with pleural abrasion is the most efficient intervention .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: obstructive sleep apnea ( osa ) syndrome represents a serious health hazard and is recognized as an independent risk factor for adverse cardiovascular outcomes such as hypertension , arrhythmias , stroke , and coronary heart disease . sympathetic activation , oxidative stress , and systemic inflammation have been shown to be the main intermediary mechanisms linking intermittent hypoxia ( ih ) , the marker of osa , with deleterious cardiovascular and metabolic consequences leading to enhanced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality [ 2 , 3 ] . prior to the occurrence of cardiovascular events , sleep apnea is associated with several subclinical cardiovascular alterations including nocturnal hypertension and early atherosclerosis that are related to both vasculature remodeling ( such as increased intima - media thickness , arterial plaque formation , and arterial stiffness [ 58 ] ) and endothelial dysfunction . osa patients exhibit altered endothelial function with desensitization of the alpha and beta 2-adrenergic receptors , altered no - dependent vasodilatation , and hypersensitivity to vasoconstriction ( induced by angiotensin ii ( ang ii ) ) [ 1012 ] . alterations in endothelial function precede the development of morphological atherosclerotic changes and subsequent clinical complications . digital pulse amplitude augmentation in response to hyperemia ( endopat ) is one of the validated methods for measuring endothelial function . endopat has the advantage of being easy to perform compared to other endothelial function assessment techniques . a main advantage of the system is that the contralateral arm serves as an internal control that can be used to correct for any systemic drift in vascular tone during the test . there is demonstration that peripheral arterial tone ( pat ) values allow quantifying cardiovascular risk and predicting late adverse cardiovascular events . in osa patients , reversing early disorders in the cardiovascular system before the occurrence of major clinical events , such as...

rationale . accumulated evidence implicates sympathetic activation as inducing oxidative stress and systemic inflammation , which in turn lead to hypertension , endothelial dysfunction , and atherosclerosis in obstructive sleep apnea ( osa ) . statins through their pleiotropic properties may modify inflammation , lipid profile , and cardiovascular outcomes in osa . methods . this multicenter , randomized , double - blind study compared the effects of atorvastatin 40 mg / day versus placebo over 12 weeks on endothelial function ( the primary endpoint ) measured by peripheral arterial tone ( pat ) . secondary endpoints included office blood pressure ( bp ) , early carotid atherosclerosis , arterial stiffness measured by pulse wave velocity ( pwv ) , and metabolic parameters . results . 51 severe osa patients were randomized . key demographics for the study population were age 54 11 years , 21.6% female , and bmi 28.5 4.5 kg / m2 . in intention to treat analysis , mean pat difference between atorvastatin and placebo groups was 0.008 ( 0.29 ; 0.28 ) , p = 0.979 . total and ldl cholesterol significantly improved with atorvastatin . systolic bp significantly decreased with atorvastatin ( mean difference : 6.34 mmhg ( 12.68 ; 0.01 ) , p = 0.050 ) whereas carotid atherosclerosis and pwv were unchanged compared to the placebo group . conclusion . in osa patients , 3 months of atorvastatin neither improved endothelial function nor reduced early signs of atherosclerosis although it lowered blood pressure and improved lipid profile . this trial is registered with nct00669695 .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: concomitanced with craniofacial dysostosis , short arms , and other anomalies , while silver described a syndrome of congenital hemihypertrophy , short stature , and elevated urinary gonadotrophins . silver syndrome is a genetically heterogeneous disorder , with a very wide variation in phenotype . it is also the first human disorder related with epigenetic mutation affecting two different chromosomes . although the incidence of russell silver syndrome is largely unknown , it is estimated to be 1 in 50,000100,000 births . described the major features of russell silver syndrome : low birth weight ( 2 standard deviation [ sd ] ) , poor postnatal growth 2 sd , and preservation of occipitofrontal circumference and asymmetry . here , we present a rare case of russell silver syndrome associated with low conus medullaris . silver syndrome , however , tubbs et al . reported a case of russell silver syndrome with tethered cord . this is believed to be the first and only reported case of russell silver syndrome associated with tethered spinal cord until now . we report a rare case of a 2-year - old male child , a product of nonconsanguineous marriage , who was clinically diagnosed as russell silver syndrome associated with low conus medullaris . the patient presented with characteristic features of russell silver syndrome , such as intrauterine growth retardation with subsequent marked postnatal growth impairment , body asymmetry , and triangular face . because of preeclampsia , the mother underwent a cesarean delivery at 32 weeks of gestation . at birth , his weight was 1140 g , length was 34 cm , and had a head circumference of 28 cm . the patient was well appearing , but short and thin , with triangular facies , broad forehead , and low - set prominent ears . asymmetry of the face with left eyelid ptosis , micrognathia , high - arched palate and downturned mouth corners , and hemihypertrophy on the right side , involving the lower limb and cryptorchidism , were also noted [ figure 1 ] . his height was 71 cm...

russell silver syndrome is a rare heterogeneous disorder mainly characterized by intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation , craniofacial disproportion , clinodactyly , variation in urogenital development , and skeletal asymmetry . it is rare to come across tethered cord - associated russell silver syndrome . we report a rare case of russell silver syndrome associated with low conus medullaris in a 2-year - old patient with demonstrative phenotype . magnetic resonance imaging indicated a low conus medullaris at the inferior border of the l3 vertebral body . urodynamic study revealed detrusor - sphincter dyssynergia and detrusor overactivity . a decision to follow - up the patient was made because of the suspicion of tethered cord syndrome . even though tethered cord syndrome is not a common finding in russell silver syndrome , it is important to consider tethered cord syndrome to avoid scoliosis and other long - term complications .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: strabismus is an ocular alignment disorder characterized by a horizontal , vertical , and/or torsional deviation of one eye relative to the other , which may result in compromised binocular vision and amblyopia.1,2 strabismus is classified roughly into comitant and incomitant types . according to a study conducted in central china , strabismus was prevalent in 108 ( 5.0% ) out of the 2,363 eligible students.3 clinically , strabismus also exhibits stereopsis impairment . at present , surgery is the major method of strabismus correction.4 optimal eye movements and alignment require a functional oculomotor system . initially , it was reported that eom dystrophy can lead to squint,5 and subsequently , duane s retraction syndrome was found to be closely related to muscular malnutrition.6 moreover , abnormal positions of the eoms can also lead to strabismus.7 additionally , dysfunction of the eom pulleys had been shown to be involved in incomitant strabismus.8,9 strabismus can affect the binocular visual function , resulting in impaired visual fusion in strabismus patients.10 functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fmri ) has been widely used to study strabismus . a previous report described reduced gray matter volume in the occipital eye field ( oef ) and parietal eye field ( pef ) and an increase in the gray matter volume in the frontal eye field ( fef ) of adults with strabismus.11 the fef is an area of the frontal cortex that can trigger eye movements.12 another group demonstrated reduced functional connections between the v1 and v2 areas in macaque monkeys with strabismic amblyopia.13 it has been shown that the mean diffusivity of the occipital tracts was increased in patients with strabismic amblyopia.14 the regional homogeneity ( reho ) method , a resting - state fmri ( rs - fmri ) measurement method , is widely used to determine the local synchronization of spontaneous fmri signals , and it provides important information on the activities of the brain.15,16 the reho method has been successfully deployed to...

objectiveto investigate the underlying regional homogeneity ( reho ) of brain - activity abnormalities in patients with comitant strabismus ( cs ) and their relationship with behavioral performance.methodstwenty patients with cs ( ten men and ten women ) and 20 ( ten men and ten women ) age- , sex- , and education - matched healthy controls ( hcs ) underwent resting - state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans . the reho method was used to assess local features of spontaneous brain activities . patients with cs were distinguished from hcs by receiver operating characteristic curve . correlation analysis was performed to explore the relationship between the observed mean reho values of the different brain areas and behavioral performance.resultscompared to hcs , the patients with cs showed significantly increased reho values in the right inferior temporal cortex / fusiform gyrus / cerebellum anterior lobe , right lingual gyrus , and bilateral cingulate gyrus . we did not find any relationship between the observed mean reho values of the different brain areas and behavioral performance.conclusioncs causes dysfunction in many brain regions , which may explain the fusion compensation in cs .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: surgical intervention in epilepsy is a widely accepted , effective therapy in patients with pharmacoresistant partial epilepsy . seizure semiology correlates with the seizure origin , spread , and release phenomenon and can help in the estimation of the anatomical brain localization . finger snapping has been noted as a common act for centuries and is employed in securing someone else 's attention . the sound of the snap is created by forcing air out between the fingers with an audible crack . automatisms involving the distal segments of the upper or lower limbs are frequent during seizures and , when unilateral , often indicate ipsilateral seizure onset , mostly in the temporal lobe or in the orbitofrontal region , . finger snapping could be interpreted as a temporal lobe automatism , but the fierceness of the finger - snapping movement associated with tonic abduction of the upper limb could indicate a focus in the supplementary motor area ( sma ) , . we describe two patients in whom invasive intracranial eeg evaluation was performed to localize the seizure onset for surgical intervention . both patients showed ictal snapping of the right hand fingers , which has not previously been described in literature . a 34-year - old right - handed man was seen at the montreal neurological hospital for investigation of refractory seizures . his seizures began at the age of seven , two years after a right - sided head trauma . early eegs revealed an active epileptiform anomaly over the right midfrontal region . over the years , he showed fluctuation in frequency and severity of seizures , which eventually remained refractory . 1.5-tesla mri showed no structural abnormalities . during admission for video - eeg , typical clinical seizures occurred predominantly during sleep , without aura , and were defined as tonic posturing with fencing , extension of the right arm , snapping of the right hand fingers , and some pedaling movement . electroencephalography telemetry showed several seizures not only with bilateral...

we describe two patients who showed snapping of the right hand fingers during invasive intracranial eeg evaluation for epilepsy surgery . we correlated the eeg changes with the finger - snapping movements in both patients to determine the underlying pathophysiology of this phenomenon . at the time of finger snapping , eeg spread from the supplementary motor area towards the temporal region was seen , suggesting involvement of these sites .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: although oral phosphodiesterase ( pde)-5 inhibitors are generally an effective and well - tolerated treatment modality for patients with erectile dysfunction ( ed ) , pde-5 therapy can not cure the underlying disorder in the corpus cavernosum and has limitations such as reduced efficacy in patients with diabetes or radical prostatectomy , lack of spontaneity of the sexual act , and a contraindication in those who take nitrates . gene therapy was introduced in the field of ed in the late 1990s with various therapeutic genes . however , most of these studies remain at a preclinical level , even though the preclinical results are promising . despite the well - known safety of plasmid dna as a gene delivery vector in humans viral vectors exert high gene transfer efficiency but have many drawbacks including systemic toxicity , induction of host immune responses , and possible integration into the host genome . these obstacles have led to the development of new gene delivery methods , such as electroporation- , ultrasound- , and polymer - mediated gene transfer techniques . electroporation technology has emerged as a simple , nontoxic , safe , and effective method for delivering foreign genes into target cells or tissues . a transient and reversible increase in cell membrane permeability with local delivery of electrical pulses to target cells by using electrodes is a major mechanism for electroporation - mediated enhanced gene delivery . in preclinical experiments , in vivo electroporation has been shown to significantly enhance gene transfer efficiency while maintaining the safety properties of plasmid dna . the phase i clinical trial of electroporation - mediated delivery of interleukin-12 plasmid with dose escalation in patients with metastatic melanoma showed the technique to be safe , effective , and reproducible . a dna vaccine against the hepatitis b virus delivered by in vivo electroporation was also shown to be effective in patients with chronic hepatitis b . in the ed field , however , electroporation -...

purposeelectroporation is known to enhance the efficiency of gene transfer through a transient increase in cell membrane permeability . the aim of this study was to determine the optimal conditions for in vivo electroporation - mediated gene delivery into mouse corpus cavernosum.materials and methodsdiabetes was induced in c57bl/6 mice by intraperitoneal injections of streptozotocin . after intracavernous injection of pcmv - luc ( 100 g/40 l ) , different electroporation settings ( 5 - 50 v , 8 - 16 pulses with a duration of 40 - 100 ms ) were applied to the penis to establish the optimal conditions for electroporation . gene expression was evaluated by luciferase assay . we also assessed the undesired consequences of electroporation by visual inspection and hematoxylin - eosin staining of penile tissue.resultselectroporation profoundly induced gene expression in the corpus cavernosum tissue of normal mice in a voltage - dependent manner . we observed electrical burn scars in the penis of normal mice who received electroporation with eight 40-ms pulses at a voltage of 50 v and sixteen 40-ms pulses , eight 100-ms pulses , and sixteen 100-ms pulses at a voltage of 30 v. no detectable burn scars were noted in normal mice stimulated with eight 40-ms pulses at a voltage of 30 v. electroporation also significantly induced gene expression in diabetic mice stimulated with 40-ms pulse at a voltage of 30 v without injury to the penis.conclusionswe have established the optimal electroporation conditions for maximizing gene transfer into the corpus cavernosum of mice while avoiding damage to the erectile tissue . the electroporation - mediated gene delivery technique will be a valuable tool for gene therapy in the field of erectile dysfunction .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: accessory scrotum is the rarest developmental anomaly of scrotum . because it is usually associated with perineal lipomatous mass or anomalies in the anorectal and genitourinary system , early diagnosis and proper treatment are important to improve the quality of patients ' lives . , we report a case of perineal accessory scrotum with a lipomatous hamartoma in a 46-year - old man . it is a good opportunity to know the natural course of both accessory scrotum and lipomatous hamartoma in an adult patient . a 46-year - old male patient was admitted to dongguk university gyeongju hospital because of a perineal mass . the patient was born with the mass but he did n't undergo any treatment . there was no history of rapid growth or other complications . he was a hepatitis b virus carrier and he had a 20-year history of rheumatoid arthritis . physical examination revealed a round , pedunculated mass arising from the left lateral aspect of the anus . the mass was soft , nontender and movable , measuring 5 cm 4 cm . there was a 3.5 cm 1.5 cm sized elongated skin - tag - like protuberance on the left lateral portion of the main mass . the rugated skin of the protuberance was contiguous with the covering skin of the main mass . there were no abnormalities in the anorectal and genitourinary system . under the impression of a lipoma , we completely excised the mass . on section , the main mass was a lump of ill - defined yellow adipose tissue partly divided by whitish fibrous septa . the elongated small protuberance was composed of whitish soft tissue and had a rubbery texture ( fig . microscopically , the main mass consisted of predominant mature adipose tissue that was neither encapsulated nor well circumscribed from surrounding tissue ( fig . small bundles of bland smooth muscle fibers , mature neural tissue and blood vessels were scattered within the adipose tissue mass ( fig . the main mass was diagnosed as a hamartoma with predominant adipose tissue ( lipomatous hamartoma ) . the skin - tag - like protuberance was...

accessory scrotum is a rare congenital anomaly that is often associated with perineal tumor or other developmental abnormalities . because most cases are diagnosed and treated in early childhood , little is known about the natural biologic course of this entity and associated lesions through time . we present a case of accessory scrotum associated with lipomatous hamartoma in a 46-year - old man who was born with a perineal mass . we evaluate the clinicopathologic features and discuss the pathogenesis with a review of the literature .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: approximately 20%-30% of patients are diagnosed with metastatic disease , and 70%-80% of patients are presented with localized or locally advanced disease at the time of diagnosis , which is potentially curable by radical surgical resection alone . among patients who undergo radical resection for localized disease , an understanding of the pathogenesis of rcc at the molecular level , and randomized clinical trials , have established the standard role of the orally administered vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and platelet derived growth factor receptor inhibitor sunitinib for the treatment of advanced rcc . clinical trials are the standard way to evaluate the efficacy of new investigational therapies [ 5 - 7 ] . in various types of cancer ( e.g. , melanoma , ovarian cancer , lung cancer ) , data suggests that there exist a trial effect , ' whereby clinical trials participants may have an improved outcome simply by participating in a clinical trial itself [ 5 - 10 ] . positive effects of clinical trials participation may include improved routine care and treatment delivery , quality control , and close observation , leading to better patient compliance and clinician practice . the effect of clinical trial participation on the outcome of treatment in metastatic rcc is poorly defined . this knowledge would be important , as treatment options and clinical trials with targeted therapies for patients with metastatic rcc have significantly expanded in recent years . thus , we aimed to study the effect of clinical trial participation on the outcome of metastatic rcc patients treated with sunitinib . we reviewed the records of patients ( unselected cohort , international multicenter database ) with evidence of metastatic rcc , who were treated with sunitinib between february 1 , 2004 , and december 31 , 2013 , in six centers across two different countries : the united states ( sidney kimmel comprehensive cancer center at johns hopkins , baltimore , md ) and israel ( institute of oncology , meir medical...

purposestudies suggested the existence of a trial effect ' , in which for a given treatment , participation in a clinical trial is associated with a better outcome . sunitinib is a standard treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma ( mrcc ) . we aimed to study the effect of clinical trial participation on the outcome of mrcc patients treated with sunitinib , which at present , is poorly defined.materials and methodsthe records of mrcc patients treated with sunitinib between 2004 - 2013 in 7 centers across 2 countries were reviewed . we compared the response rate ( rr ) , progression free survival ( pfs ) , and overall survival ( os ) , between clinical trial participants ( n=49 ) and a matched cohort of non - participants ( n=49 ) who received standard therapy . each clinical trial participant was individually matched with a non - participant by clinicopathologic factors . pfs and os were determined by cox regression.resultsthe groups were matched by age ( median 64 ) , gender ( male 67% ) , heng risk ( favorable 25% , intermediate 59% , poor 16% ) , prior nephrectomy ( 92% ) , rcc histology ( clear cell 86% ) , pre - treatment nlr ( > 3 in 55% , n=27 ) , sunitinib induced hypertension ( 45% ) , and sunitinib dose reduction / treatment interruption ( 41% ) . in clinical trial participants versus non - participants , rr was partial response / stable disease 80% ( n=39 ) versus 74% ( n=36 ) , and progressive disease 20% ( n=10 ) versus 26% ( n=13 ) ( p=0.63 , or 1.2 ) . the median pfs was 10 versus 11 months ( hr=0.96 , p=0.84 ) , and the median os 23 versus 24 months ( hr=0.97 , p=0.89).conclusionsin mrcc patients treated with sunitinib , the outcome of clinical trial participants was similar to that of non - participants who received standard therapy .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: chemokines are small cytokines known for their ability to induce migration of cells such as lymphocytes , dendritic cells ( dc ) , macrophages , and stem cells . based on the cellular context and the site of expression , chemokines can be divided into inflammatory chemokines , that are synthesized and promote recruitment of cells during inflammation and homeostatic chemokines , that are constitutively expressed in specific tissues where they regulate leukocyte homing [ 1 , 2 ] . some chemokines participate both in immune defense during inflammation and in physiological trafficking of resting leukocytes [ 1 , 2 ] . moreover , some inflammatory chemokines are crucial components of tumor microenvironment and have a pivotal role in tumor progression , enhancing cancer cell migration to distant organs . chemokine scaffold , that is , a conserved protein structure , dependent on two disulfide bonds linking cysteine residues . based on the relative position of their cysteine residues located in the n - terminal region , chemokines can be divided into four subfamilies , cxc , cc , c , and cx3c [ 1 , 2 ] . cxc chemokines can be further subdivided depending on the presence or absence of an elr ( glu , leu , and arg ) amino acid motif . elr cxc chemokines attract neutrophils and possess angiogenic properties , whereas elr cxc chemokines are angiostatic and attract t and b lymphocytes as well as natural killer ( nk ) cells . cc chemokines promote the migration of monocytes , dc , lymphocytes , eosinophils , and basophils . lymphotactin / xcl1 and fractalkine / cx3cl1 are the only members of the c and cx3c chemokine families , respectively . lymphotactin attracts t and b lymphocytes and nk cells , whereas fractalkine attracts predominantly t and b lymphocytes , nk cells , and monocytes [ 1 , 2 ] . chemokines mediate their functions through binding to seven transmembrane g - protein - coupled receptors defined as cxcr , ccr , cr , or cx3cr [ 1 , 2 ] . furthermore , some chemokines bind to multiple receptors and some...

fractalkine / cx3cl1 , the only member of the cx3c chemokine family , exists as a membrane - anchored molecule as well as in soluble form , each mediating different biological activities . it is constitutively expressed in many hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic tissues such as endothelial and epithelial cells , lymphocytes , neurons , microglial osteoblasts . the biological activities of cx3cl1 are mediated by cx3cr1 , that is expressed on different cell types such as nk cells , cd14 + monocytes , cytotoxic effector t cells , b cells , neurons , microglia , smooth muscle cells , and tumor cells . the cx3cl1/cx3cr1 axis is involved in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory cancer including various b cell malignancies . in tumors the interaction between cancer cells and cellular microenvironment creates a context that may promote tumor growth , increase tumor survival , and facilitate metastasis . therefore the role of the cx3cl1/cx3cr1 has attracted interest as to the development of potential therapeutic approaches . here we review the different effects of the cx3cl1/cx3cr1 axis in several inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases and in cancer , with emphasis on human b cell lymphomas .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: although contact angle hysteresis phenomenon has been well known for several decades , its nature is not fully explained yet . numerous papers have been published in which this phenomenon was investigated both experimentally and theoretically , and it would be impossible to cite all of them . the appearance of contact angle hysteresis was originally attributed to the surface roughness , its chemical heterogeneity and/or surface active impurities present in the liquid . some general characteristic features of the hysteresis , among others , are discussed in adamson and gast s monograph . as is well known , practically on all real solid surfaces contact angle hysteresis is observed , and one may claim that all real surfaces possess some roughness and/or chemical imperfections of the surface structure on the molecular scale . the microscopic contact angle can vary across such surfaces , and the experimental macroscopic advancing and receding contact angles measured using a few microlitre droplet settled on the surface are averaged values of the microscopic angles . various aspects concerning relations between microscopic and macroscopic contact angles , also in relation to contact angle hysteresis , were published by decker et al . . amount of roughness ( at the most ngstrom level ) of the contact line does not correlate with the amount of hysteresis , resulting from dramatic changes in the advancing and receding contact angles that occurred after uv / ozone treatment . gaydos and neumann deduced that minimum patch size of the heterogeneous surface to produce contact angle hysteresis was about 1 m . the effect of surface roughness on the hysteresis may depend not only on the roughness heights but also the roughness topology . on the other hand , krumpfer and mccarthy stated that because the advancing and receding events are not generally the reverse of one another this leads to the expectation that most surfaces should exhibit contact angle hysteresis even if they are not dirty , rough or chemically...

advancing and receding contact angles of water , formamide and diiodomethane were measured on 1,2-dipalmitoyl - sn - glycero-3-phosphocholine ( dppc ) layers deposited on three different solid supports glass , mica and poly(methyl methacrylate ) . up to five statistical monolayers were deposited on the surfaces by spreading dppc solution . it was found that even on five statistical dppc monolayers , the hysteresis of a given liquid depends on the kind of solid support . also on the same solid support the contact angle hysteresis is different for each probe liquid used . the afm images show that the heights of roughness of the dppc films can not be the primary cause of the observed hysteresis because the heights are too small to cause the observed hystereses . it is believed that the hysteresis is due to the liquid film present right behind the three - phase solid surface / liquid drop / gas ( vapour ) contact line and the presence of derjaguin pressure . the value of contact angle hysteresis depends on both the solid surface and liquid properties as well as on intermolecular interactions between them .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: hypothyroidism is a multiorgan endocrine disorder which results in metabolic dysfunction involving brain , nerves , heart , and muscular systems . neurological abnormalities of the central and peripheral nervous system occur in conjunction with systemic abnormalities in hypothyroid and are present in 30%80% of cases but are noted only incidentally . moreover , some signs and symptoms of neurological manifestations such as somnolence , impaired memory and concentration , neuropathy , and depression may sometimes contribute significantly to disability . peripheral nervous system abnormalities have been studied in hypothyroid patients by variety of techniques . on the contrary , quantification of central nervous system ( cns ) dysfunction hypothyroidism has been reported to affect both electroencephalogram and visual evoked potential ( vep ) in response to flash stimulation , causing particularly the delay in conduction . recent studies have even established the reversibility of delay in vep sensory conduction in hypothyroid patients following the appropriate thyroxin replacement using electrodiagnostic techniques . clinical hypothyroidism in middle age is also associated with decrease in cognitive functions , especially memory . cognitive tests of patients with moderate to severe hypothyroidism indicate difficulties in performing calculations , recent memory loss , reduced attention span , and slow reaction time ( rt ) . these are not attributable to attention deficit but to specific retrieval deficits after excluding interfering factors related to the perception of disease . hypothyroid patients showed prolongation of latencies only in the early event - related potential components , with speeding of sensory and cognitive processing after treatment . the insidious and steady history of hypothyroidism in adults indicates that it is a process which starts early but probably goes unnoticed . subclinical hypothyroid ( sch ) is asymptomatic and frequently a laboratory diagnosis stage with normal levels of free...

background : central nervous system ( cns ) involvement is insidious and may occur early in subclinical hypothyroid ( sch ) state which can be picked up by electrophysiological study . this study aims to record visual evoked potential ( vep ) , event - related latency and cognitive functions , and find their association with the levels of serum thyroid - stimulating hormone ( tsh ) in patients with sch.materials and methods : in this cross - sectional study , 36 adult sch patients and an equal number of age- and sex - matched euthyroid controls were included . pattern reversal vep , visual reaction time ( rt ) , digit spanning test , and ab clock test ( abct ) were done in both sch cases and euthyroid controls . the observed values were analyzed for comparison of mean values between the groups and correlation of recorded variables with the levels of serum tsh.results:sch cases showed a higher p100 ( vep ) latency in both the right ( 103.2 12.3 vs. 102.7 6.8 ms ) and left eye ( 101.1 9.1 vs. 96.2 10.7 ms ) as compared to controls , but the difference was statistically insignificant . a significant delay in rt was observed on visible spectra of light in sch cases ( p < 0.001 ) . digit spanning score ( forward and backward ) in sch cases was significantly lower than controls ( p < 0.001 ) , and a lower standardized score ( < 124 or < 95th percentile ) was significantly associated with sch state ( p = 0.027 ) . no significant difference was observed in visuospatial domain by abct between both the groups although the median score was lower in sch cases . only digit spanning score showed a significant negative correlation with tsh levels ( r = 0.4 ; p = 0.001).conclusion : decline in working memory and rt to visual stimuli is an evidence of the involvement of cns in sch . prolonged latency in vep may depend on the duration of sch .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: trauma is among the top five causes of death in the world , showing different incidence rates from one country to another.1 , 2 treatment and management of trauma involving craniofacial region still represents a challenge , due to the presence of important anatomical structures . this part of the body includes , in fact , not only vital organs , but also sensorial and motor systems as visual , auditory , olfactory and speech , composed by both numerous organs located in maxillofacial bones . moreover , maxillofacial region is the most relevant area concerning the psychological and social aspects . facial physiognomy , in fact , is used for both self and interpersonal identification , and social relationships ; any damage to this region may cause an imbalance in mental health context . the different rates of resistance and elasticity , associated to the position within the district and the shape of the bone itself , are related to the highest incidence of fractures in the mandibular and nasal bones . there are several causes of maxillofacial fractures , such as motor vehicle accidents , car crashes , sport activities , fights , etc . unintentional injuries are responsible for almost 90% of all pediatric deaths , and the head region constitutes the most affected area in pediatric patients.4 , 5 , 6 the analysis of gender and age distribution showed that the highest prevalence of craniofacial trauma involved young male victims . this can be related to sociocultural behavior , like the need to experience risk , beyond the abuse of alcohol or drugs.4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 other reasons , like the major physical activity in heavy works or sports , performed often by young men , can explain the strong correlation ; though , the reason why trauma represents one of the first death causes in young population may be also correlated to the low rate of slow progressive diseases , like cancer , atherosclerosis or cardiovascular diseases that usually require years to show the first clinical symptoms . for the mentioned reason and...

in recent years , recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 ( rhbmp-2 ) has been introduced as a therapeutic option in the treatment of several congenital and acquired craniofacial defects . although there have been promising clinical results , the international literature still lacks complete guidelines , including limits and indications for the use of rhbmp-2 . the possible indications for rhbmp-2 in patients undergoing facial trauma are discussed in this article .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the size of engineered nanomaterials makes many novel and innovative products , as evident by the increasing number of commercially available nanotechnology products . thus , there is a huge concern surrounding the potential toxicity of these nanomaterials and there is a need to sufficiently test such materials . the goal here is to understand and control risk , and both toxicity testing and physicochemical characterisation should be conducted . although our current understanding of risk associated with nanomaterials is limited , attempts have been made in order to assess this systematically . recently , aschberger et al they have indicated the risk expected from metal and metal oxide nanomaterials , which was particularly relevant in the case of algae and daphnia . they have attributed the risk from such materials their exposure to both the particles and corresponding dissolved ions . there is a general consensus within the nanoecotoxicological community that physicochemical characterisation of nanomaterials in complex media is not a trivial matter , and so the reliability of such measurements is vital if we are to understand and control the risk imposed by nanomaterials [ 2 , 3 ] . in recent years , the oecd initiative has adopted a holistic approach to this problem and that physicochemical characterisation should be carried out with as many parameters as possible , to include redox potential . the prospect ( ecotoxicology test protocols for representative nanomaterials in support of the oecd sponsorship programme ) project is the uk 's contribution to this oecd initiative , and the uk is responsible for two types of nanomaterials : cerium oxide ( ceo2 ) and zinc oxide ( zno ) . out of all seventeen oecd parameters identified , redox potential is the most ambiguous in its definition , what this parameter means and how it is measured , in a nanoecotoxicological context . integral to any ecotoxicological investigation is the ability to measure the redox conditions of a given system as...

redox potential has been identified by the organisation for economic co - operation and development ( oecd ) as one of the parameters that should be investigated for the testing of manufactured nanomaterials . there is still some ambiguity concerning this parameter , i.e. , as to what and how to measure , particularly when in a nanoecotoxicological context . in this study the redox potentials of six nanomaterials ( either zinc oxide ( zno ) or cerium oxide ( ceo2 ) ) dispersions were measured using an oxidation - reduction potential ( orp ) electrode probe . the particles under testing differed in terms of their particle size and dispersion stability in deionised water and in various ecotox media . the orp values of the various dispersions and how they fluctuate relative to each other are discussed . results show that the orp values are mainly governed by the type of liquid media employed , with little contributions from the nanoparticles . seawater was shown to have reduced the orp value , which was attributed to an increase in the concentration of reducing agents such as sulphites or the reduction of dissolved oxygen concentration . the lack of redox potential value contribution from the particles themselves is thought to be due to insufficient interaction of the particles at the pt electrode of the orp probe .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: during percutaneuos coronary intervention ( pci ) procedures , several complications can occur , such as dissections , thrombi , ulcers or plaque , may appear as angiographic hazy or uncertain images . a proper diagnosis is important to guide the correct management in the catheterization laboratory and to improve patient outcomes . angiography has important limitations to characterize those entities that , with contrast , can be diagnosed accurately thanks to intravascular imaging.1 ) among the intracoronary imaging techniques available , intravascular ultrasound ( ivus ) and optical coherence tomography ( oct ) are the most commonly used for research . both techniques provide great value for characterization of coronary lesions and for guidance of pci . ivus is very useful to measure the vessel wall and to evaluate plaque burden , whereas the oct ( with almost microscopic resolution ) is an excellent method for characterizing luminal and intimal lesions.2 - 4 ) herein , we present a case that illustrates the ability of oct for accurate diagnosis of an intracoronary post - angioplasty that had an uncertain hazy image , and its usefulness as a guide for therapeutic strategy . a 73-year - old female patient underwent coronary angiography after being admitted with a non - st elevation myocardial infarction . we determined that the patient had 2 diseased coronary vessels , with the culprit lesion in the right coronary artery ( rca ) and a severe lesion in the left anterior descending artery ( lad ) ( fig . 1 ) . we treated the rca lesion with implantation with a bare metal stent ( bms ) . ten hours before the second procedure , the patient was given a sub - cutaneous dose of 1 mg / kg enoxaparin . following the current recommendation guidelines,5 ) we gave the patient a 0.3 mg / kg enoxaparine dose by intravenous administration immediately before the angioplasty procedure ; we decided against giving the patient unfractionated heparin . we performed a predilatation procedure using a compliant balloon angioplasty...

although its use in daily practice is not common , optical coherence tomography ( oct ) is a powerful research tool in invasive cardiology . this report describes a hazy angiography image after percutaneous coronary intervention that has been assessed using oct . based on the results of the oct , the patient underwent an elective coronary angioplasty with standard anticoagulation . after implantation of the stent , an intracoronary hazy image was seen on angiography . the use of oct permitted a correct diagnosis and a successful treatment . this paper provides a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of oct , and a comparison with intravascular ultrasound .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the incidence is approximately 0.30.5% in different world populations with a prevalence rate of five to 10 per thousand people . the overall aim of treating epilepsy should be complete control of seizures , without causing any untoward reaction due to the medication . patients perceptions often take account of other parameters such as effects of epilepsy on daily activities and functions . epilepsy can be associated with profound physical , psychological , and social consequences ; and its impact on a person 's quality of life ( qol ) can be greater than that of chronic conditions . people with epilepsy have been shown to report a poorer qol because they are more likely to have poor self - esteem and a high level of anxiety and depression . in some patients , the social stigma and impact on qol can pose a greater challenge than the clinical severity . health - related quality of life ( hrqol ) is recognized as an important outcome in epilepsy treatment . research assessing the qol associated with successful treatment of epilepsy is far behind that of other chronic conditions such as cancer , diabetes , and cardiovascular disease . very few studies have been carried out on qolie-31 in india and research in this area will identify factors affecting qol and may lead to strategies that improve the management of patients with epilepsy . this study was therefore conducted to determine the level of health - related qol of patients of epilepsy in a tertiary care teaching hospital . this was a cross - sectional , questionnaire - based study conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital from march to october 2013 after approval from the institutional ethics committee . respondents were adults aged at least 18-year - old with a diagnosis of epilepsy for at least a year . they were explained the nature and purpose of the study and necessary consent were obtained . patients with associated psychotic disorders , severe mental retardation , strokes , head injuries , brain tumors , and patients who have had recent brain...

objectives : health - related quality of life ( qol ) is an important outcome in epilepsy treatment . very few studies have been carried out on the quality of life in epilepsy ( qolie-31 ) in india . the present study aimed to determine the level of health - related qolie-31 in patients of epilepsy.materials and methods : this was a cross - sectional , questionnaire - based study conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital . respondents were adults aged at least 18-year - old with a diagnosis of epilepsy . qolie-31 was used for collecting data on health - related qol . the unpaired t - test or one - way analysis of variance was used to compare means of qol scores between groups.results:totally , 60 patients of epilepsy were included in the study . the mean ( standard deviation ) total score of qolie-31 was 64.61 . a score of cognitive and medication effect were significantly better in carbamazepine group as compared to valproate group.conclusions:patients on monotherapy had a better qol as compared to patients receiving polytherapy .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: sheehan 's syndrome ( ss ) is defined as pituitary hormone deficiency due to ischemic infarction of the pituitary gland as a result of massive postpartum uterine hemorrhage . although the onset of ss can involve acute severe panhypopituitarism in some patients , the majority of ss patients are diagnosed with a clinically subtle partial pituitary deficiency and therefore their diagnoses and treatments are delayed for many years . the prevalence of ss is not clearly known , presumably due to the great number of nondiagnosed patients . it is a rarely encountered disorder in developed countries due to good obstetric care [ 3 , 4 ] . however , its prevalence is estimated to be still high in developing countries in which many deliveries take place at home . zargar et al . estimated the prevalence of ss to be 3.1% among women in india , and about two - thirds of those women had given birth at home . as the etiopathogenesis of ss is not clear , disorders of coagulation have been investigated in some studies . it has been reported that disseminated intravascular coagulation ( dic ) can cause postpartum hypopituitarism [ 7 , 8 ] . in addition , cakir et al . found protein s deficiency in 2 out of 12 patients with ss . importantly , in another study , gokalp et al . investigated inherited hypercoagulation as a risk factor of ss . they found that frequency of mthfr ( methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase ) c677 t and mthfr a1298c polymorphisms was significantly higher among their 38 patients with ss compared to the healthy control group . in addition , factor ii ( g20210a ) , factor v ( g1691a ) , and pai-1 4g/5 g mutations were also more common among the ss patients , but no significant differences were observed . our aim in this study was to investigate gene polymorphisms of mthfr c677 t and a1298c , factor ii ( g20210a ) , factor v ( g1691a ) , and pai-1 ( plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 ) 4g/5 g that are associated with inherited hypercoagulation and tnf- ( tumor necrosis factor - alpha ) 308 g > a that is...

sheehan 's syndrome ( ss ) is defined as pituitary hormone deficiency due to ischemic infarction of the pituitary gland as a result of massive postpartum uterine hemorrhage . herein , we aimed to investigate the roles of factor ii ( g20210a ) , factor v ( g1691a ) , mthfr ( c677 t and a1298c ) , pai-1 4g/5 g , and tnf- ( 308 g > a ) gene polymorphisms in the etiopathogenesis of ss . venous blood samples were obtained from 53 cases with ss and 43 healthy women . standard methods were used to extract the genomic dnas . factor ii ( g20210a ) , factor v ( g1691a ) , and mthfr ( c677 t and a1298c ) polymorphisms were identified by real - time pcr . pai-1 4g/5 g and tnf- ( 308 g > a ) gene polymorphisms were detected with polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) and restriction fragment length polymorphism ( rflp ) methods . according to statistical analysis , none of the polymorphisms were found to be significantly higher in the ss group compared to the control group . hence , we suggest that genetic factors other than factor ii , factor v , mthfr , pai-1 , and tnf- gene polymorphisms should be researched in the etiopathogenesis of ss .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: aric is an ongoing , prospective , observational study of the natural history of cv risk factors and atherosclerotic diseases . detailed study rationale , design , and procedures have been previously published.11 the original cohort included 15 792 participants recruited between 1987 and 1989 using probability sampling of middle - aged ( 45 to 64 years old ) men and women from 4 communities in the united states ( forsyth county , nc ; jackson , ms ; suburban minneapolis , mn ; and washington county , md ) . enrollment of african americans varied by field center ( jackson 100% ; forsyth county 12% ; minneapolis < 1% ; washington county < 1% ) . subsequent follow - up visits occurred at 3-year intervals up to 1998 , with annual telephone interviews conducted between visits and to the present . institutional review boards from each site approved the study , and informed consent was obtained from all participants . the fourth aric exam occurred between 1996 and 1998 , was attended by 11 656 participants , and is the basis for this analysis given that plasma n - terminal pro b - type natriuretic peptide ( ntprobnp ) levels were measured on samples obtained at this visit . we excluded 2519 participants for the following reasons : missing plasma nt - probnp levels ( n=405 ) ; self - reported race other than african american or caucasian ( n=31 ) ; prevalent or missing status regarding prevalent cvd ( defined as coronary artery disease , heart failure , atrial fibrillation / flutter , or stroke ; n=1989 ) , or missing baseline characteristics of interest ( n=94 ) . ntprobnp levels were measured using an electrochemiluminescent assay on a cobas e411 analyzer ( roche diagnostics , indianapolis , in ) , as previously described.12 the measurement range was 5 to 35 000 pg / ml , with a value of 2.5 pg / ml assigned to participants with levels below the limit of detection . the coefficient of variation was 3.5% to 4.7%.12 established definitions for htn , obesity , dm , and smoking status , as previously described in...

backgroundnatriuretic peptides promote natriuresis , diuresis , and vasodilation . experimental deficiency of natriuretic peptides leads to hypertension ( htn ) and cardiac hypertrophy , conditions more common among african americans . hospital - based studies suggest that african americans may have reduced circulating natriuretic peptides , as compared to caucasians , but definitive data from community - based cohorts are lacking.methods and resultswe examined plasma n - terminal pro b - type natriuretic peptide ( ntprobnp ) levels according to race in 9137 atherosclerosis risk in communities ( aric ) study participants ( 22% african american ) without prevalent cardiovascular disease at visit 4 ( 19961998 ) . multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses were performed adjusting for clinical covariates . among african americans , percent european ancestry was determined from genetic ancestry informative markers and then examined in relation to ntprobnp levels in multivariable linear regression analysis . ntprobnp levels were significantly lower in african americans ( median , 43 pg / ml ; interquartile range [ iqr ] , 18 , 88 ) than caucasians ( median , 68 pg / ml ; iqr , 36 , 124 ; p<0.0001 ) . in multivariable models , adjusted log ntprobnp levels were 40% lower ( 95% confidence interval [ ci ] , 43 , 36 ) in african americans , compared to caucasians , which was consistent across subgroups of age , gender , htn , diabetes , insulin resistance , and obesity . african - american race was also significantly associated with having nondetectable ntprobnp ( adjusted or , 5.74 ; 95% ci , 4.22 , 7.80 ) . in multivariable analyses in african americans , a 10% increase in genetic european ancestry was associated with a 7% ( 95% ci , 1 , 13 ) increase in adjusted log ntprobnp.conclusionsafrican americans have lower levels of plasma ntprobnp than caucasians , which may be partially owing to genetic variation . low natriuretic peptide levels in african americans may contribute to the...

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: proteolytic lysosomal enzyme activity may be responsible for detrimental effects on the corneal endothelium.1,2 glycolytic lysosomal enzymes have been studied less extensively and their role in endothelial cell loss during corneal preservation is still incompletely understood.3 the use of adjuvant corticosteroid in the preservation medium has demonstrated reduced levels of glycolytic lysosomal enzymes.4,5 however , the lysosomal activity found during preservation for routine corneal transplantation did not correlate with graft success.6 the mean corneal storage time in this study was 73 hours.6 the question of whether lysosomal activity at longer preservation times ( 14 days ) may be more substantial and could be reduced through the use of corticosteroids has not been completely addressed . the second question to be addressed is the magnitude of the source of the glycolytic lysosomal enzymatic activity . if , as expected , it is from the cellular elements of the cornea , then removal of the corneal epithelium should have a substantial effect on the measured glycolytic enzymatic activity . nine of the eyes were selected for mechanical deepithelialization prior to removal of the corneoscleral rim in order to protect the corneal endothelium . they were stored for 14 days at 4c . at the conclusion of the preservation , 5 ml of the solution was frozen in dry ice and transported frozen for -glucuronidase activity . the hydrocortisone solution was prepared in the following manner by the admixture pharmacy department at the ohio state university hospitals . water - soluble hydrocortisone powder ( sigma h0396 ) was dissolved aseptically in the optisol to achieve a final concentration of 10 m in nine containers and 10 m in nine containers . at the conclusion of the preservation period , 5 ml of the optisol solution was removed from the chamber and immediately frozen with dry ice and transported to the mayo medical laboratories for measurement of the -glucuronidase activity using the csf protocol . the substrate ,...

purpose : to analyze the levels of -glucuronidase during prolonged ( 14 day ) corneal preservation with epithelialized ( epi ) and deepithelialized ( dep ) corneas and the effect of supplemental hydrocortisone ( hct ) on these levels.methods:thirty-six freshly excised bovine corneas were preserved in optisol solution ( 4c ) for 14 days with the following conditions epi / no supplemental hct , dep no supplemental hct , epi/108 m hct , and epi 104 m hct . -glucuronidase activity levels were measured at the end of this period.results:-glucuronidase levels ( nmol / ml / h ) for each group were found to be : epi no hct : 4.302 , sem 0.586 ; dep no hct : 2.178 , sem 0.271 ; epi 108 m hct : 4.472 , sem 0.435 ; epi 104 m hct : 2.072 , sem 0.437 . the epi no hct and epi 108 m hct were not significantly different as were the dep no hct and epi 104 m hct groups . the epi no hct group and the epi 108 m hct group were independently significantly different from the dep no hct and the epi 104 m hct groups.conclusions:the corneal epithelium contributes significantly to the formation of the lysosomal enzyme , -glucuronidase , during preservation . the addition of 104 m hct decreases the production of -glucuronidase during corneal preservation in this model .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: hypertension is a global public health problem , accounting for substantial morbidity and mortality through heart disease , stroke , blindness , and renal failure.1,2 globally , it accounts for at least 45% of heart disease , and 51% of deaths resulting from stroke.1 hypertension was once considered rare in sub - saharan africa ( ssa ) , but it has become currently a widespread problem , with immense socioeconomic importance.3 in addition , there is evidence that the prevalence of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases is increasing rapidly in ssa.4,5 mass migration of rural africans to urban areas and rapid changes in lifestyle and risk factors account for this rising prevalence.3 the epidemiological picture of hypertension in ssa , compared against other regions , is grimmer , with the region having the highest prevalence , of 46% , compared against 30% in high - income countries.6,7 this high prevalence is expected to be reflected in increased prevalence of complications of hypertension in the region . it has also been projected that this prevalence will continue to increase at an alarming rate , with ssa bearing the brunt of the disease burden because of ignorance , poverty , inadequate health care provision , and erosion of traditional lifestyles.3,8,9 this will impose considerable strain on scarce health resources , and further impoverish the region . therefore , the thrust of public health policies within the region should be primary prevention of hypertension.10 success of these primary prevention programs will be dependent on accurate estimates of the prevalence of hypertension in our communities . this will enable precise quantification of the burden imposed by hypertension on our national and regional resources . epidemiological transition is at various stages in different places , and the true situation in ssa is largely unknown,11 especially in the rural areas.12 therefore , there is an important need for better epidemiological data , and hypertension - related outcome trials in ssa.3 data on...

backgroundthe prevalence of hypertension is increasing rapidly in sub - saharan africa , but data are limited on hypertension prevalence . in addition , few population - based studies have been conducted recently in nigeria on the prevalence and correlates of hypertension in both urban and rural communities . therefore , we determined the prevalence of hypertension in adults in the three rural communities of ipetumodu , edunabon , and moro , in south west nigeria.materials and methodsone thousand adults between 15 and 90 years of age were recruited into this cross - sectional study , over a 6-month period , using a multistage proportional stratified random sampling technique . sociodemographic data and anthropometric variables were obtained , and resting blood pressure ( bp ) was measured using an electronic sphygmomanometer . diagnosis of hypertension was based on the jnc vii guidelines , the who / ish 1999 guidelines , and the bp threshold of 160/95 mmhg.resultsfour hundred and eighty - six men ( 48.6% ) men and 514 women ( 51.4% ) participated in the study . their mean age , weight , height , and body mass index were 32.314.7 years , 6213 kg , 1.50.1 m , and 23.02 kg / m2 , respectively . the prevalence of hypertension , based on the 140/90 mmhg definition , was 26.4% ( male : 27.3% ; female : 25.4% ) . the prevalence of hypertension , based on the 160/95 mmhg definition , was 11.8% ( male : 13.5% ; female : 10.1% ) . there were significant positive correlations between bp and some anthropometric indicators of obesity.conclusionthe prevalence of hypertension in the three rural communities was 26.4% , indicating a trend towards increasing prevalence of hypertension . there was also a significant positive correlation between anthropometric indicators of obesity and bp in this population .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the identification of a stem cell in a tissue is a major challenge of pivotal importance . being able to detect the stem cell population allows for powerful approaches to study cell differentiation dynamics by , for example , lineage tracing ( barker et al . , 2007 , busch et al . , 2015 ) . additionally , it provides a first step toward ex vivo propagation of primary stem cells in organoid cultures ( lancaster et al . , 2013 , sato et al . , 2009 ) , important for applications in regenerative medicine . moreover , stem cell populations relevant for disease progression , such as cancer stem cells , are promising targets for therapeutic intervention . stem cells are typically rare , which makes their discovery by traditional population - based assays very difficult . for example , it took decades of dedicated research to define the population of hematopoietic stem cells ( hscs ) ( eaves , 2015 ) , but it remains an open question how much heterogeneity exists within this subpopulation of bone marrow cells ( wilson et al . , 2015 ) . similarly , the discovery of intestinal stem cells ( van der flier and clevers , 2009 ) took years of work , and heterogeneity within this compartment remains under debate ( buczacki et al . , 2013 ) . the recent availability of single - cell mrna sequencing methods allows profiling of healthy and diseased tissues with single - cell resolution ( grn et al . , 2015 , , 2015 , patel et al . , 2014 , paul et al . , 2015 , the transcriptome of a cell can be interpreted as a fingerprint , revealing its identity . however , biological gene expression noise ( eldar and elowitz , 2010 , raj and van oudenaarden , 2008 ) and technical noise because of amplification of minute amounts of mrna from a single cell ( brennecke et al . , 2013 , 2014 ) affects the readout and makes it a challenge to discriminate cell types based on their transcriptome . by sequencing large numbers of randomly sampled single cells from a tissue these inventories can be screened for cell types of particular...

summaryadult mitotic tissues like the intestine , skin , and blood undergo constant turnover throughout the life of an organism . knowing the identity of the stem cell is crucial to understanding tissue homeostasis and its aberrations upon disease . here we present a computational method for the derivation of a lineage tree from single - cell transcriptome data . by exploiting the tree topology and the transcriptome composition , we establish stemid , an algorithm for identifying stem cells among all detectable cell types within a population . we demonstrate that stemid recovers two known adult stem cell populations , lgr5 + cells in the small intestine and hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow . we apply stemid to predict candidate multipotent cell populations in the human pancreas , a tissue with largely uncharacterized turnover dynamics . we hope that stemid will accelerate the search for novel stem cells by providing concrete markers for biological follow - up and validation .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: stigma is a broad term that includes direct discrimination and systemic discrimination ( link et al . the stigma of schizophrenia has been studied extensively in many cultures and has been shown to have a variety of negative impact on finance , quality of life , ( thornicroft et al . healthcare professionals are not immune to these biases and negative attitudes have been found at greater rates in non - psychiatric settings than in psychiatric settings ( bjorkman et al . most studies of discrimination against those with schizophrenia assessed the attitudes of the general public in different cultures ( angermeyer and matschinger 2005 ; anglin et al . fewer studies have examined the expectation and subjective experience of discrimination by those with schizophrenia ( dickerson et al . 2002 ; ertugrul and ulug 2004 ; thornicroft et al . 2009 ; yanos et al . 2008 ) and most of these utilized small samples with a few exceptions ( lee et al . 2005 ; thornicroft et al . one of the largest surveys of this kind in the united states was conducted by otto wahl using a sample of 1,301 individuals with mental illness recruited from the national alliance on mental illness ( nami ) but less than 20% of this sample identified as having a schizophrenia spectrum disorder . the results for this group are not separated out . given the observed differences in attitudes towards people with schizophrenia versus those with depression ( nordt et al . 2006 ) , it is unclear whether these findings can be generalized to individuals with schizophrenia . the wahl study is unusual in that it identified how commonly discrimination , prejudice , or support is experienced in specific social situations . such data is essential to optimally target interventions . a framework that separately considers the experience or expectation of discrimination in different social contexts may also support or challenge proposals that stigma 2001 ) , that it is related to unrealistically elevated fear of violence ( link et al . 1999a ) , that it is related...

stigma against those with schizophrenia has demonstrated deleterious effects . however , less is known about the experience of individuals who disclose this diagnosis and how such disclosures differ by social situations . this study examines diagnosis disclosure in different contexts . a convenience sample of 258 adults with schizophrenia recruited via the internet and e - mail lists completed an online survey . subjects were more open about their diagnosis with doctors , parents and friends than with employers or police . those who report very good current mental health or who had fewer types of relationships were more open overall . although reactions to disclosure varied , many report worse treatment by police and better treatment by parents after disclosure . many also experienced worse treatment for medical problems after disclosing their schizophrenia diagnosis . these results support targeted anti - stigma interventions . it also suggests that stigma must be understood through individual experience in specific contexts rather than as a unitary experience .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: pulmonary arterial hypertension ( pah ) is a group of diseases characterized by progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance ( pvr ) ( mean pulmonary arterial pressure [ pap ] > 25 mm hg at rest or > 30 mm hg with exercise , as confirmed by right heart catheterization ) , leading to right ventricular failure and premature death . elevated pvr may result from multiple mechanisms , including vasoconstriction , proliferative and obstructive remodeling of pulmonary vessel wall , inflammation , and thrombosis . pah is a rare disease with an incidence of only 5.9 cases per 1 million , and primary pah is an aggressive disease with a median survival of 2.8 years . dasatinib is an oral multi - target tyrosine kinase inhibitor of bcr - abl , platelet - derived growth factor receptor ( pdgfr ) , src , discoidin domain receptor , and c - kit and has a ~300-fold greater potency in abl inhibition compared to imatinib in in vitro studies . in 2010 , dasatinib was approved by the food and drug administration for treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia ( cml ) as a frontline therapy and as a second - line treatment after imatinib failure . however , previous case reports have identified several concerns over the development of pah in dasatinib - treated cml patients [ 3 - 8 ] . here , we describe two cml patients who developed pah while receiving dasatinib treatment , but were improved shortly after discontinuation of dasatinib . a 43-year - old male patient without comorbidity was diagnosed with chronic phase ( cp ) cml in 1999 . he had been treated with imatinib until hematological progression ; this patient was subsequently treated with a daily regimen of 140 mg dasatinib beginning from july 15 , 2005 . after several adjusted doses were administered because of repeated thrombocytopenia , the final dasatinib dose was restored in june 2010 to 140 mg daily and was maintained without additional adverse events ( aes ) . on april 15 , 2011 , 69 months after initial dasatinib administration , the patient presented with new...

we describe two cases of pulmonary arterial hypertension ( pah ) that occurred under dasatinib treatment and were resolved after dasatinib discontinuation . two patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia ( cml ) were switched to dasatinib therapy because of hematological progress while receiving imatinib . these patients had new york heart association ( nyha ) functional class ii dyspnea with elevated right ventricular systolic pressure ( rvsp ) , which progressed under dasatinib treatment . after dasatinib treatment was discontinued , subjective symptoms were improved to nyha functional class i and the follow - up transthoracic doppler echocardiography showed improved rvsp . treatment with an alternate tyrosine kinase inhibitor was initiated and had been continued without development of dyspnea or elevation of rvsp . this report suggests that dasatinib can cause the reversible pah , therefore , routine cardiopulmonary evaluation before and during treatment with dasatinib may be needed in cml patients with clinical manifestations .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: pertussis , also known as whooping cough , is an acute respiratory tract infection caused by bordetella pertussis . although the incidence rate of pertussis has significantly decreased following the wide use of pertussis vaccine , b. pertussis infection is continuously occurring as a small outbreak even in several developed countries with high vaccination coverage ( 1 - 4 ) . there has been the resurgence of reported pertussis cases primarily in infants younger than 1 yr old , especially less than 3 months of age , in adolescents and young adults worldwide ( 5 , 6 ) . the possible causes of increased incidence in adolescents and adults include waning of vaccine immunity , adaptation of circulating b. pertussis strains , development of diagnostic methods , and active surveillance due to increased awareness of pertussis ( 7 - 9 ) . household contact with infected adolescents and adults also becomes the major source of pertussis infection in infants who are not fully immunized , and this problematic circulation may consequently threaten overall public health ( 10 , 11 ) . the epidemiological characteristics of pertussis can vary depending on the definition of case , diagnostic method of confirmed case , national reporting system , network organization for epidemiological investigation , and the local vaccination schedule . national immunization program ( nip ) of korea consists of three primary series of diphtheria - tetanus - acellular pertussis vaccine ( dtap ) at 2 , 4 , and 6 months , followed by a first booster at 15 - 18 months and a second booster between 4 and 6 yr of age . recently , a tetanus toxoid , reduced diphtheria and acellular pertussis ( tdap ) booster vaccine in adolescents aged 11 - 12 yr is added to korean nip in 2012 . the vaccination rate of primary dtap continues to be approximately 94% ( 12 , 13 ) , and there is a mandatory notification system in korea . an annual average of about 11.5 cases of pertussis has been reported to the korea center for disease control and prevention ( kcdc ) ,...

a recent resurgence of pertussis has raised public health concerns even in developed countries with high vaccination coverage . the aim of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics of infant pertussis , and to determine the relative importance of household transmission in korea . the multicenter study was prospectively conducted from january 2009 to september 2011 . we identified the demographic and clinical data from these patients and performed the diagnostic tests for pertussis in their household contacts . twenty - one patients with confirmed pertussis were included in the analysis . all infections occurred in infants younger than 6 months of age ( mean age , 2.5 months ) who had not completed the primary dtap vaccination except for one patient . infants without immunization history had a significant higher lymphocytosis and longer duration of hospital stay compared to those with immunization . all were diagnosed with pcr ( 100% ) , however , culture tests showed the lowest sensitivity ( 42.9% ) . presumed source of infection in household contacts was documented in 85.7% , mainly parents ( 52.6% ) . pertussis had a major morbidity in young infants who were not fully immunized . household members were responsible for pertussis transmission of infants in whom a source could be identified . the control of pertussis through booster vaccination with tdap in family who is taking care of young infants is necessary in korea .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the role of low - density lipoprotein cholesterol ( ldl - c ) in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis has been unequivocally established , and the use of ldl - lowering agents , especially statins , has led to a significant reduction of cardiovascular events in both primary1 and secondary2 prevention . however , a significant cardiovascular risk remains even after the achievement of optimal ldl concentrations , and among the major statin trials , the maximum relative risk reduction has not exceeded 47%.3,4 on the other hand , epidemiological data have clearly demonstrated a strong inverse relationship between high - density lipoprotein cholesterol ( hdl - c ) levels and the risk of cardiovascular events , which is independent of the ldl - c levels and remains relevant even when ldl - c levels are below 70 mg / dl.46 furthermore , the absolute benefits of ldl lowering are greater in patients with low hdl - c concentrations.4,7 thus , extensive research is being carried out to identify new hdl - raising drugs in the hope that this would lead to further reduction of cardiovascular risk , and cholesteryl ester transfer protein ( cetp ) inhibitors are being actively studied for that purpose . cetp is a hydrophobic glycoprotein that is secreted mainly from the liver , predominantly derived from kupffer cells,8 and circulates in the plasma , bound mainly to hdl . in individuals with essentially normal lipid levels , cetp concentration is ~14 g / ml,9,10 while the concentration may be 7080% higher among those with hyperlipidemia.10,11 the role of cetp is to promote the transfer of cholesteryl esters from hdl to very low - density lipoprotein and ldl.12 therefore , cetp inhibition raises hdl - c levels and decreases ldl - c levels ( fig . 1 ) . cetp inhibition became an attractive antiatherogenic target when rodents lacking plasma cetp activity were found to have elevated hdl levels and resistance to diet - induced atherosclerosis.10,12 subsequently , patients with cetp gene mutations were also found to have...

the atheroprotective role of high - density lipoprotein cholesterol ( hdl - c ) in cardiovascular disease has been unequivocally established , and epidemiological data have clearly demonstrated a strong inverse relationship between hdl - c levels and the risk of cardiovascular events , which is independent of the low - density lipoprotein cholesterol ( ldl - c ) levels . thus , it would be logical to hypothesize that raising hdl - c might potentially lead to a reduction of cardiovascular risk . cholesteryl ester transfer protein ( cetp ) promotes the transfer of cholesteryl esters from hdl to very low - density lipoprotein and ldl . therefore , cetp inhibition raises hdl - c levels and decreases ldl - c levels . the first trials with cetp inhibitors failed to show a reduction in cardiovascular events . however , newer cetp inhibitors with more favorable effects on lipids are presently being tested in clinical trials with the hope that their use may lead to a reduction in cardiovascular risk . this review aims to provide the current evidence regarding cetp inhibition , as well as the clinical and scientific data pertaining to the new cetp inhibitors in development .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: 1.8 million people died in 2009 due to aids - related causes , and an estimated 2.6 million people were newly infected with hiv in world . india carries the third largest number of hiv infected patients in the world after south africa and nigeria . hiv infection causes depletion of cd4 cells in peripheral blood and lymphoid tissue causing cd8 cell dysfunction . quantitation of cd4 helper lymphocytes is thus essential in the staging and monitoring of patients infected with hiv . throughout the course of disease , the total t - cell levels remain fairly constant despite a fall in cd4 cell count due to compensatory rise in cd8 cells . . therefore the ratio of cd4 cell to cd8 cells is a significant measure which is of greater magnitude as compared to absolute cd4 cell count of disease progression in hiv - infected subjects . plasma hiv-1 rna levels have been shown to be a strong predictor of rapid progression to aids after seroconversion that is independent of cd4 counts . high viral load is currently considered to be one of the main indicators of hiv - induced immune deterioration . since the onset of hiv / aids epidemic , the oral cavity has played a key role in helping to define the natural history of hiv / aids . few studies have evaluated the relationship of cd4/cd8 ratio with oral manifestations [ 58 ] . high cd8 lymphocytosis and low cd4/cd8 ratio have also been associated with oral candidiasis ( oc ) [ 5 , 7 ] . studies from western countries have also shown association of oral manifestations with higher hiv viral load [ 912 ] . however till date no asian study has attempted to assess the relationship between oral manifestations with cd4/cd8 ratio and hiv viral load . the possible reasons for absence of studies related to hiv viral load conducted in asia could be financial and resource constraints . in the present study , a group of hiv patients from south indian population were analyzed to identify possible association of oral manifestations with cd4/cd8 count ratio and hiv viral load and to evaluate...

the objective of the present research was to determine the prevalence of oral manifestations in an hiv infected population from south india and evaluate their association with hiv viral load and cd4/cd8 ratio . intraoral examination of 103 patients , whose cd4/cd8 ratio was available , were conducted . hiv viral loads were available for thirty patients only . the prevalence of oral manifestations was 80.6% ( 83/103 ) . the most common oromucosal lesion was erythematous candidiasis ( ec ) ( 38.8% ) followed by melanotic hyperpigmentation ( 35.9% ) . patients having any oral manifestation had a mean cd4/cd8 ratio of 0.24 . ec had positive predictive value of 85.0% for cd4/cd8 ratio < 0.30 . the prevalence of oral manifestations in patients taking art was lesser ( 78.6% ) as compared to patients not taking art ( 82% ) . patients having any oral manifestation had a higher hiv viral load as compared to patients not having any oral manifestations ( p < 0.05 ) . pseudomembranous candidiasis ( pc ) was significantly associated with higher hiv viral loads ( > 20,000 copies / ml ) ( p < 0.05 ) . patients having ec had 4 times greater chance of having cd4/cd8 ratio < 0.30 . pc can be considered as a marker of immune suppression ( hiv viral load > 20,000 copies / ml ) .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: perhaps one of the most important concepts in inorganic chemistry is the nature of the bonding interactions between a metal center and its ligands . the covalency , or charge donation from the ligands to the metal , of these bonds influences the chemistry of transition metal complexes , including their reactivity , redox potentials , and magnetic exchange . ligand bonds is of fundamental importance when attempting to rationalize the properties and reactivity of inorganic complexes . the influence of bonding on the metal orbitals occurs through two distinct mechanisms . the first is via the direct dilution of the metal d orbitals due to mixing with the ligand orbitals and is termed symmetry restricted covalency due to its symmetry - dependent nature . the second , more subtle , mechanism is a distortion of the metal d orbital radial wave functions due to bonding ( central field covalency ) . accordingly , in a molecular orbital ( mo ) picture , the impact of symmetry restricted covalency on the ground state of an inorganic complex can be described as a linear combination of metal and ligand orbitals according to eq 1 , where ( 1 ) represents the amount of ligand character mixed into the metal d manifold.1 several experimental techniques have been developed to assess the covalency of metal ligand bonds , including ground state methods such as analysis of hyperfine and superhyperfine couplings obtained from epr and excited state techniques like visible absorption and x - ray absorption spectroscopies ( specifically the metal l - edge and ligand k - edge ) . as discussed in the cited references , these methods have provided significant insights into the nature of metal ligand bonding and have greatly improved our understanding of many inorganic systems . it should be noted , however , that challenges and limitations exist for all of these methods . the extraction of covalency from epr requires an epr active compound with resolvable ligand...

the mainline feature in metal k x - ray emission spectroscopy ( xes ) has long been recognized as an experimental marker for the spin state of the metal center . however , even within a series of metal compounds with the same nominal oxidation and spin state , significant changes are observed that can not be explained on the basis of overall spin . in this work , the origin of these effects is explored , both experimentally and theoretically , in order to develop the chemical information content of k mainline xes . ligand field expressions are derived that describe the behavior of k mainlines for first row transition metals with any dn count , allowing for a detailed analysis of the factors governing mainline shape . further , due to limitations associated with existing computational approaches , we have developed a new methodology for calculating k mainlines using restricted active space configuration interaction ( ras ci ) calculations . this approach eliminates the need for empirical parameters and provides a powerful tool for investigating the effects that chemical environment exerts on the mainline spectra . on the basis of a detailed analysis of the intermediate and final states involved in these transitions , we confirm the known sensitivity of k mainlines to metal spin state via the 3p3d exchange coupling . further , a quantitative relationship between the splitting of the k mainline features and the metal ligand covalency is established . thus , this study furthers the quantitative electronic structural information that can be extracted from k mainline spectroscopy .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: it was an observational , prospective , cross - sectional study conducted in patients with bronchial asthma . the study was carried out from november 2013 to march 2015 in the department of pulmonary medicine in a tertiary care hospital . a written informed consent was taken , and patients were enrolled in the study as per the inclusion criteria . patients presenting with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma with peak expiratory flow ( pef ) at randomization 75% of their known best ( in the past 12 months ) or in the absence of this information , 75% of their predicted pef ( predicted normal)patients of both genders in the age group of 18 years and abovepatients on inhaled corticosteroids and using metered dose inhalers ( mdis ) for a period of at least 3 months ( in addition to other drugs ) . patients presenting with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma with peak expiratory flow ( pef ) at randomization 75% of their known best ( in the past 12 months ) or in the absence of this information , 75% of their predicted pef ( predicted normal ) patients of both genders in the age group of 18 years and above patients on inhaled corticosteroids and using metered dose inhalers ( mdis ) for a period of at least 3 months ( in addition to other drugs ) . after enrollment , demographic data of patients , drug history , and information regarding inhaler device were recorded . five of them included symptoms present at night , early in the morning , history of respiratory difficulty , wheezing , and limitation of activities . questions on the frequency of usage of rescue therapy and on forced expiratory volume at 1 s ( fev1 ) completed the questionnaire . there were 15 questions in the questionnaire divided into four domains , which included assessment of activity limitation , symptoms of asthma , exacerbation due to environmental stimuli , and emotional disturbances due to the disease . the responses in asthma control and qol were assessed for the questions as per the symptoms in the preceding 3 months . the...

introduction : there is a need to assess erroneous steps in the use of inhaler devices in people who have asthma . the objectives of this study were to assess the inhaler technique in patients who have asthma , the factors affecting improper technique , and the association of inhaler use with asthma control , hospital visits , and quality of life ( qol ) of patients who have asthma.methods:it was an observational , prospective , cross - sectional study conducted on patients with bronchial asthma . patients were enrolled in the study ; their history was recorded and they were asked to use inhaler in the presence of an investigator and the technique was scored . asthma control and qol of patients were assessed using asthma control questionnaire and mini asthma qol questionnaire.results:a total of 330 patients completed the study . nearly 36.6% of the patients performed the steps incorrectly . breathing normally for 3060 min postinhaler use was the most common step done incorrectly . patients with poorly controlled asthma ( p < 0.001 ) and those with predicted forced expiratory volume at 1 s < 70% performed the steps erroneously ( p < 0.001).conclusion : all patients , particularly those above 40 years , should be given proper instructions regarding inhaler use to obtain therapeutic advantage .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: eukaryotic gene expression is controlled at multiple levels , and splicing of mrna is an important regulatory step in the production of functional proteins . during mrna splicing , portions of the rna , introns , are removed by the spliceosome complex , and the remaining protein - coding rnas , exons , are joined together . alternative splicing , in which different combinations of exons are included in the final protein - coding mrna , is responsible for the diversity of protein - coding mrnas that can be derived from a single open reading frame [ 14 ] . the location of these splice junctions is generally defined by a g - t dna sequence signal at the splice donor and an a - g dna sequence signal at the splice acceptor [ 1 , 5 ] . it is likely that more subtle sequence features in addition to the local sequence context of these splice sequences play a role in both constitutive splicing and alternative splicing . transcription and splicing appear to be mechanistically coupled [ 614 ] , and the precise rules governing recognition and regulation of constitutive and alternative splicing are poorly understood . several recent papers have focused on the role that the packaging of the template dna into chromatin plays in the splicing process [ 6 , 1523 ] . the packaging of eukaryotic dna into chromatin is expected to affect all dna templated processes . the fundamental subunit of chromatin is the nucleosome , 150 base pairs ( bp ) of dna wrapped around a histone octamer . the position and density of nucleosomes play key regulatory roles and are controlled both by chromatin regulatory complexes and by features intrinsic to the dna sequence [ 2426 ] . there is limited information on how these two determinants of nucleosome occupancy coordinate to regulate responses , such as transcription in mammalian cells . nucleosome forming and nucleosome inhibitory properties were derived from first principles more than three decades ago . more recently , maps of nucleosome distribution have enabled the development of...

the regulation of metazoan gene expression occurs in part by pre - mrna splicing into mature rnas . signals affecting the efficiency and specificity with which introns are removed have not been completely elucidated . splicing likely occurs cotranscriptionally , with chromatin structure playing a key regulatory role . we calculated dna encoded nucleosome occupancy likelihood ( nol ) scores at the boundaries between introns and exons across five metazoan species . we found that ( i ) nol scores reveal a sequence - based feature at the introns on both sides of the intron - exon boundary ; ( ii ) this feature is not part of any recognizable consensus sequence ; ( iii ) this feature is conserved throughout metazoa ; ( iv ) this feature is enriched in genes sharing similar functions : atpase activity , atp binding , helicase activity , and motor activity ; ( v ) genes with these functions exhibit different genomic characteristics ; ( vi ) in vivo nucleosome positioning data confirm ontological enrichment at this feature ; and ( vii ) genes with this feature exhibit unique dinucleotide distributions at the intron - exon boundary . the nol scores point toward a physical property of dna that may play a role in the mechanism of pre - mrna splicing . these results provide a foundation for identification of a new set of regulatory dna elements involved in splicing regulation .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: cysts related to the mullerian system usually occur in paraovarian ( 1 ) or paratubal regions ( 2 ) . an eleven year old girl presented to the emergency department with a twenty four history of abdominal pain , fever and nausea . on presentation she was clinically dehydrated , pyrexial , and the lower abdomen was full with tenderness in the right iliac fossa and hypogastrium . inflammatory markers showed elevated c - reactive protein of 331 mg / ml ( normal < 10 mg / ml ) and a total white cell count of 29.7 x 10/l ( range 5- 13.0 ) with a neutrophilia of 27.0 x 10/l ( range : 1.5- 8.0 ) . ( fig 1&2 ) ultrasound image of longitudinal view of multicystic pelvic mass ultrasound image of coronal view of multicystic mass following resuscitation she underwent laparotomy on gram stain only a few white blood cells were seen and fluid culture did not identify an organism . the histopathological analysis revealed both cysts to be lined focally by ciliated and non - ciliated epithelium forming plicae . however , for the major part , the cysts were lined by acute inflammatory exudate . in the paratubal and paraovarian regions the majority of the cysts are of mullerian origin and can account for up to 76% of all the cysts ( 3 ) . they are more common in adults and only occur rarely in adolescents ( 4% ) ( 3 ) . dilatation of these cysts could be anticipated after menarche , due to the secretory activity of the lining epithelium under the influence of the hormones ( 3 ) . large cysts could cause symptoms such as nausea , pain and vomiting ( 4 ) . some undergo torsion ( 5,6 ) with severe pain and other may also cause torsion of the fallopian tubes ( 2 ) . in large adult series pelvic pain and a neoplastic potential has been identified ( 6,7 ) with the incidence varying from 1.69% to 2 % . no case of inflamed paratubal cysts appears in the english literature . we can only postulate that contributory factors in our case could have included low grade infection due to previous meningitis and vp shunts . it shows a wide range...

paramesonephric duct remnants are an infrequent cause of abdominal symptoms in childhood . preoperative diagnosis is often difficult and diagnosis is usually made at surgery . we report a rare presentation of an acute abdomen in a child with bilateral inflamed fimbrial cysts . ultrasound revealed the presence of a multicystic lesion behind bladder . it was only at laparotomy the diagnosis of bilateral inflamed fimbrial cysts was establsihed . these were excised and the child made an uneventful post operative recovery .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: gastrointestinal ( gi ) autoimmune diseases are characterized by the uninhibited immune response in the gi tract . these diseases are characterized by an increased number of mononuclear cells in the intestinal epithelium , which can lead to destruction of intestinal crypts . some common gi autoimmune diseases are crohn 's disease and ulcerative colitis , commonly known as inflammatory bowel disease ( ibd ) . recently published data show that the incidence of ibd is the highest in canada , and direct costs alone in the healthcare system amount to $ 1.8 billion . as such researchers have yet to answer what prompts the imbalance between tolerance and immune response leading to ibd . lately , ox40-ox40l interactions have come to light as potential treatment targets . ox40l is part of the tumor necrosis family , expressed on antigen presenting cells ( apcs ) ( dendritic cells , macrophages , and b - cells ) , vascular endothelial cells , mast cells , natural killer cells , and on some t - cells . the interaction of ox40 and ox40l plays a crucial role in clonal expansion of antigen - specific t - cells . ox40l is also important in determining the amount of memory t - cells remaining after the immune response.[57 ] ox40l - ox40 interaction has been implicated in various inflammatory autoimmune diseases through many different animal models . however , it is important to recognize that ox40l - ox40 interactions are important for normal immune response as well . activation of ox40l produces anti - apoptotic proteins that aid in the survival and proliferation of t - memory cells . co - stimulatory signals delivered through ox40 have been implicated in selectively promoting the differentiation of t - helper ( th)-2 cells , and help prolong antigen - specific proliferative response . ox40-deficient mice are shown to have impaired t - cell proliferation , even though the initial nave t - cell response remains unimpaired . these mice have also exhibited lower levels of anti - apoptotic protein : bcl-2 and bcl - xl . this...

gastrointestinal ( gi ) autoimmune diseases have a high incidence in developed countries , such as canada and the us . some common gi autoimmune diseases include ulcerative colitis and crohn 's disease . these conditions are not only unpleasant for the patient , but also present a heavy burden on the healthcare system . ox40l , a member of the tumor necrosis family , has been identified as a key player in the pathological inflammatory response , which characterizes gi autoimmune diseases . ox40l is expressed in many cell types , including antigen presenting cells ( apcs ) , t - cells , vascular endothelial cells , mast cells , and natural killer cells . the importance of ox40l - ox40 interactions in inflammatory autoimmune diseases is becoming more evident through different animal models , ranging from nematode models to mouse models . this literature review attempts to summarize the current literature regarding the role of ox40l - ox40 interactions in gi autoimmune inflammatory diseases and comment on its potential for treatment . various databases , including ovid medline and pubmed were used to retrieve articles regarding the role of ox40l - ox40 interactions in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases . these articles were then reviewed and summarized in a comprehensive manner . ox40l - ox40 interactions have a strong potential for becoming a treatment target ; however , there are still many gaps in the present knowledge , which need to be addressed before more definitive treatments can emerge . it is also suggested that upstream events leading to ox40l activation , such as thymic stromal lymphopoietin ( tslp)-activated dendritic cells , be explored as treatment targets as well . ox40l - ox40 interaction is a possible venue for treatment of gi diseases ; however , the underlying mechanisms of actions and the downstream effects of ox40l knock down need to be investigated .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: sepsis is one of the most common infectious conditions during the neonatal period , and it is still a significant cause of morbidity and mortality , despite the outstanding development of neonatology in recent years . described as systemic inflammatory response ( sirs ) associated with a suspected or proven infection , the sepsis is an infectious disease of varied etiology , which determines degrees of inflammatory and metabolic responses [ 2 , 3 ] . tumor necrosis factor ( tnf ) , interleukin-1 ( il-1 ) , interleukin-6 ( il-6 ) , and interleukin-8 ( il-8 ) are proinflammatory cytokines , whereas interleukin-10 ( il-10 ) and transforming growth factor - beta ( tgf- ) are known as anti - inflammatory cytokines , both produced rapidly in the setting of neonatal sepsis . in the past years , several authors have supported the use of cytokines in the diagnosis of both early and late sepsis . previous results from our study , in which cytokines were measured in the plasma and in the umbilical cord blood at birth , support the idea that increased levels of either proinflammatory cytokines ( tnf- ) or anti - inflammatory cytokines ( il-10 ) in neonates at birth change throughout the infectious process and there is also a positive and significant correlation between the levels of these cytokines . in the present review , we will cover the actual role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of neonatal sepsis and its value as a diagnostic criterion . neonatal sepsis is a systemic infection that occurs in newborns up to 28 days of age and it is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in newborns . according to world health organization , in 2010 , 3.7 million newborns died before reaching 28 days of age in the united states , and 37% were due to infectious causes . as proposed by the international pediatric sepsis consensus conference in 2002 , specific definitions for pediatric sirs and sepsis present important differences related to clinical signs and laboratory biomarkers specific to adults . the major differences between...

neonatal sepsis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality and its signs and symptoms are nonspecific , which makes the diagnosis difficult . the routinely used laboratory tests are not effective methods of analysis , as they are extremely nonspecific and often cause inappropriate use of antibiotics . sepsis is the result of an infection associated with a systemic inflammatory response with production and release of a wide range of inflammatory mediators . cytokines are potent inflammatory mediators and their serum levels are increased during infections , so changes from other inflammatory effector molecules may occur . although proinflammatory and anti - inflammatory cytokines have been identified as probable markers of neonatal infection , in order to characterize the inflammatory response during sepsis , it is necessary to analyze a panel of cytokines and not only the measurement of individual cytokines . measurements of inflammatory mediators bring new options for diagnosing and following up neonatal sepsis , thus enabling early treatment and , as a result , increased neonatal survival . by taking into account the magnitude of neonatal sepsis , the aim of this review is to address the role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of neonatal sepsis and its value as a diagnostic criterion .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men . androgen deprivation therapy is the treatment of choice in patients with advanced metastatic disease , although progression typically occurs within 12 years of initial response [ 2 , 3 ] . secondary hormonal therapy is an option in some patients ; however , most neoplasms ultimately progress to a situation of androgen - independent growth , namely hormone - resistant prostate cancer ( hrpc ) , androgen - independent prostate cancer or , recently , castration - resistant prostate cancer . clinical manifestations include rising psa ( prostate serum antigen ) concentration , bone metastases , substantive pain , and soft - tissue / lymph node metastases . some forms of hrpc treatment are systemic radiation therapy , chemotherapy , immunotherapy and estrogen therapy . however , outcomes in hrpc are very poor and therefore novel agents are needed to improve the treatment of this condition . many approaches , such as drugs that target specific pathways involved in cell signaling , proliferation , apoptosis , immune modulation and angiogenesis , are currently under investigation to improve survival benefit . lenalidomide is a thalidomide analog and also known as a member of the so - called immunomodulatory drugs ( imids ) with immunomodulatory and antiangiogenic properties . in preclinical studies , lenalidomide demonstrated antitumoral activity , inhibiting hypoxia - induced factor-1 expression by endothelial cells and epithelial tumor cells , including prostate cells , and an increase in pc-3 prostate cancer cell apoptosis with monotherapy or in combination with docetaxel . using in vitro and in vivo models of prostate cancer , lenalidomide inhibited growth factor - induced invasion and produced synergistic effects in combination with docetaxel that slowed tumor progression . the few published reports about the use of lenalidomide alone or in combination in hrpc patients [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]...

hormone - resistant prostate cancer ( hrpc ) occurs when prostate cancer is no longer responsive to hormone therapy . treatment options are limited , and there is a clear necessity for therapies that improve outcome . preclinical and clinical evidence supports the role of the immunomodulatory agent lenalidomide in hrpc . in this paper , we report that lenalidomide showed antitumoral activity in a patient with hrpc and bone metastases pre - treated with chemotherapy , decreased the psa level and improved the patient 's health status for the first 5 months . it is important to emphasize that it was not associated with hematologic toxicity .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: adult mesenchymal stem cells ( mscs ) represent an innovative tool for cell - based therapy of degenerative disorders , chronic inflammatory , and autoimmune diseases or allograft rejection . the understanding of the mechanisms that mediate and/or modulate the therapeutic potency of mscs is important from both a physiological and a clinical point of view . in this context , one key interest is to better understand the modulation of msc biology by toll - like receptors ( tlrs ) as they have been linked to the perpetuation of chronic inflammatory responses ( chron 's disease , rheumatoid arthritis ) through the recognition of conserved pathogen - derived components or endogenous ligands ( also known as danger signals ) that mscs will likely encounter in the sites of injury . here mscs have been isolated from multiple tissues of mesodermal origin , such as bone marrow ( bm - mscs ) , adipose tissue ( ad - mscs ) , umbilical cord blood and peripheral blood . mscs can be easily isolated by adhesion to plastic and expanded in vitro in serum containing media with no additional requirements for growth factors or cytokines . in culture thus , to date they are defined according to the criteria of the international society for cellular therapy by being negative for hematopoetic and endothelial markers such as cd11b , cd14 , cd31 , cd34 , and cd45 , and positive for a variety of many other markers , including hla class i , cd105 , cd73 , cd29 , and cd90 . therefore , mscs can be identified in vitro by their ability to differentiate into mesenchymal - type cells ( adipocytes , osteoblasts , and chondrocytes ) but also neurons , endothelial cells , astrocytes , and epithelial cells when cultured in the appropriate conditions [ 26 ] . the expression of human leukocyte antigen ( hla ) molecules class i ( also called mayor histo - compatibility class i = mhc i ) on all cells on the body allows the immune system to distinguish self from nonself . in the absence of immune suppression or tolerogenic mechanisms , cells...

mesenchymal stem cells ( mscs ) are of special interest as therapeutic agents in the settings of both chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases . toll - like receptors ( tlr ) ligands have been linked with the perpetuation of inflammation in a number of chronic inflammatory diseases due to the permanent exposure of the immune system to tlr - specific stimuli . therefore , mscs employed in therapy can be potentially exposed to tlr ligands , which may modulate msc therapeutic potential in vivo . recent results demonstrate that mscs are activated by tlr ligands leading to modulation of the differentiation , migration , proliferation , survival , and immunosuppression capacities . however inconsistent results among authors have been reported suggesting that the source of mscs , tlr stimuli employed or culture conditions play a role . notably , activation by tlr ligands has not been reported to modulate the immunoprivileged phenotype of mscs which is of special relevance regarding the use of allogeneic msc - based therapies . in this review , we discuss the available data on the modulation of mscs activity through tlr signalling .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: high blood pressure occurs in around 80% of patients with acute ischemic stroke and usually decreases over the following 7 days . whether this elevated blood pressure is a physiological and protective reaction or a side effect of a generalised stress reaction that is in fact harmful to the newly damaged brain and whether it should be lowered or not is yet to be answered . american ( aha ) and european ( eso ) guidelines recommend not to treat elevated blood pressure unless above 220/120 mmhg and describe an urgent need for large well - designed trials to address this issue [ 4 , 5 ] . currently there are two large ongoing trials : the efficacy of nitric oxide in stroke trial ( enos ) compares nitric oxide versus placebo and continuing versus stopping previously taken antihypertensive agents in acute stroke . enchanted compares low dose versus normal dose of recombinant tissue - type plasminogen activator ( r - tpa ) and intensive blood pressure reduction versus standard reduction in thrombolysed patients . this article focuses on currently available data , the contraries of the results , and potential solutions . a post hoc analysis of the international stroke trial found a u - shaped relationship between initial blood pressure and outcome , indicating that systolic blood pressure of around 140180 mmhg is associated with best outcome . these findings were confirmed in another study showing that very high and very low initial blood pressure is associated with increased death rates . high blood pressure was also independently associated with recurrent ischemic stroke and cerebral edema [ 1 , 9 ] . patients with very low initial blood pressure had a higher incidence of heart failure and coronary heart disease . high blood pressure after acute ischemic stroke causes brain edema , and brain edema decreases cerebral blood flow [ 11 , 12 ] , thus aggravating cerebral ischemia . another mechanism could be that endogenous tpa release is reduced when blood pressure is high due to the damage at the endothelium...

high blood pressure is common in acute stroke patients . very high as well as very low blood pressure is associated with poor outcome . spontaneous fall of blood pressure within the first few days after stroke was associated both with neurological improvement and impairment . several randomized trials investigated the pharmacological reduction of blood pressure versus control . most trials showed no significant difference in their primary outcome apart from the inwest trial which found an increase of poor outcome when giving intravenous nimodipine . nevertheless , useful information can be extracted from the published data to help guide the clinician 's decision . blood pressure should only be lowered when it is clearly elevated , and early after onset , reduction should be moderate but may be achieved rapidly . no clear recommendations can be given on the substances to use ; however , care should be taken with intravenous calcium channel blockers and angiotensin receptor antagonists . two ongoing randomized trials will help to solve the questions on blood pressure management in acute stroke .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: local canonical correlation analysis ( cca ) is a multivariate statistical method in fmri that uses the joint time course of a group of neighboring voxels , usually in a 3 3 in - plane voxel grid , to determine the significance of activation . the value of a suitable test statistic is used as a measure of activation . since the joint time course of the neighborhood is used , it is not immediately clear to which voxel the measure of activation should be assigned . for example , if a 3 3 voxel neighborhood is chosen and the measure of activation is significant , without further assumptions one can only conclude that activation occurred somewhere within the 3 3 voxel neighborhood . if the activation is assigned to all voxels of the neighborhood , loss of spatial specificity will occur . to increase spatial specificity , it has been proposed to assign the measure of activation to the center voxel of the 3 3 neighborhood [ 1 , 2 ] . a center voxel assignment is usually justified by mathematical convenience but can also be reasoned on the fact that the fmri bold response leads to patches of activation patterns that are most likely of convex shape and simple connectivity ( without any holes in the interior neighborhood ) . however , this center voxel assignment proved to be prone to yield artifacts as activations tend to bleed to the neighboring voxels of strongly active voxels . the smoothing artifact is not only common in conventional cca , but also in any analysis technique that involves spatial low - pass filter kernels , such as univariate ( single voxel ) analysis where the data have been preprocessed using gaussian spatial smoothing . in conventional data smoothing , the smoothing artifact has been intentionally induced to increase the signal - to - noise ratio at the cost of reduced specificity and occurrence of typical spatial low - pass artifacts such as blurring of edges of activation patterns . to compensate for the smoothing artifact in conventional cca for example , a minimum relative weight...

a wide range of studies show the capacity of multivariate statistical methods for fmri to improve mapping of brain activations in a noisy environment . an advanced method uses local canonical correlation analysis ( cca ) to encompass a group of neighboring voxels instead of looking at the single voxel time course . the value of a suitable test statistic is used as a measure of activation . it is customary to assign the value to the center voxel ; however , this is a choice of convenience and without constraints introduces artifacts , especially in regions of strong localized activation . to compensate for these deficiencies , different spatial constraints in cca have been introduced to enforce dominance of the center voxel . however , even if the dominance condition for the center voxel is satisfied , constrained cca can still lead to a smoothing artifact , often called the bleeding artifact of cca , in fmri activation patterns . in this paper a new method is introduced to measure and correct for the smoothing artifact for constrained cca methods . it is shown that constrained cca methods corrected for the smoothing artifact lead to more plausible activation patterns in fmri as shown using data from a motor task and a memory task .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the use of visible and near - infrared ( nir ) light , penetrable to deep tissue , is an attractive method of spatiotemporally controlling drug release from various drug delivery forms , such as prodrugs , liposomes , polymers , and other nano- and macrodelivery systems . however , because of its lower energy , it is difficult to directly cleave a chemical bond using such light . thus , novel mechanisms using lower energy light to trigger the release of biologically active compounds have been a major topic of interest . the photodynamic process and the unique chemistry of singlet oxygen ( so ) were adopted to mediate lower energy light release of drugs . so is formed during the photodynamic process and reacts with electron - rich olefins to form unstable dioxetanes . we named the cleavage of aminoacrylate by so photo - unclick chemistry , and demonstrated the release of the anticancer drug combretastatin a-4 ( ca4 ) from its prodrug using this method . we prepared cmp - l - ca4 , a ca4 prodrug that can be activated by far - red light ( 690 nm ) , by combining a so - labile aminoacrylate linker , a core - modified porphyrin ( cmp ) photosensitizer , and ca4 . the prodrug released ca4 and enhanced cytotoxicity upon illumination . the released ca4 damaged cancer cells , demonstrating our system s ability to generate bystander effects in vitro . we found that the antitumor effects of cmp - l - ca4 were superior to the effects of its pseudo - prodrug cmp - ncl - ca4 ( ncl = noncleavable linker ) . the ability to optically image the light - activatable prodrug is useful for determining an illumination time when the prodrug is at its maximum concentration at the target site . if the prodrug accumulates in the target sites , we can use optical imaging to detect the target areas , as well as to treat the disease . we expected that we could optically image our photounclickable prodrug in vivo using a fluorescent photosensitizer . thus , we could track the prodrugs...

we recently developed photo - unclick chemistry , a novel chemical tool involving the cleavage of aminoacrylate by singlet oxygen , and demonstrated its application to visible light - activatable prodrugs . in this study , we prepared an advanced multifunctional prodrug , pc-(l - ca4)2 , composed of the fluorescent photosensitizer phthalocyanine ( pc ) , an so - labile aminoacrylate linker ( l ) , and a cytotoxic drug combretastatin a-4 ( ca4 ) . pc-(l - ca4)2 had reduced dark toxicity compared with ca4 . however , once illuminated , it showed improved toxicity similar to ca4 and displayed bystander effects in vitro . we monitored the time - dependent distribution of pc-(l - ca4)2 using optical imaging with live mice . we also effectively ablated tumors by the illumination with far - red light to the mice , presumably through the combined effects of photodynamic therapy ( pdt ) and released chemotherapy drug , without any sign of acute systemic toxicity .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: after decompression of spinal cord or nerve roots , interbody fusion should be performed for spinal stabilization . there are several fusion materials which have been used for several decades with effectiveness and safety10 ) . most classical fusion grafts are autologous iliac bone grafts and tricortical iliac crest bone block . autologous bone has achieved favorable fusion , but it results in an additional wound of the harvest site with risk of morbidity2 ) . another fusion material is polyetheretherketone ( peek ) cage and has been used with or without anterior cervical plate augmentation . without the anterior plate , higher subsidence rate has been reported12 ) . besides the peek cage , allograft or autograft acdf many studies regarding the peek cage and autograft have been reported but there have been fewer studies about allograft in cervical spine3,14 ) . allografting has been used for decades and the safety and effectiveness of allografts in acdf was reported11,20 ) . in addition , we also studied the anterior screw insertion angle with two types of screws . between november 2010 and june 2012 , a total of 55 patients who were diagnosed with degenerative cervical disc disease underwent acdf using allograft bone substitute and combined reinforcement with rigid plate system were selected . exclusion criteria was less than 10 months follow up period , posterior instrumentation after acdf , and inability to measure radiologic parameters . the patients were divided into 2 groups according to used screws because the mean screw insertion angle was significantly different between the two screws - fixed and variable types . group a consisted of 13 patients who underwent anterior plate fixation with fixed type screws . insertion angle was limited at 12 degrees ( atlantis ) and 8 degrees ( vectra ) in each direction from cephalad to caudal . the mean age was 55.310.32 years ( range , 44 to 63 years ) in group a , and 52.610.32 years ( range , 44 to 63 years ) in group b. there were 9 males and 5 females in group...

objectiveto evaluate radiologic result of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with allobone graft and plate augmentation , and the change of radiologic outcome between screw type and insertion angle.methodsretrospective review of clinical and radiological data of 29 patients . segmental angle , height and screw angles were measured and followed . the fusion rate was assessed by plain radiography and ct scans . we divided the patients into two groups according to screw type and angles . group a : fixed screw , group b : variable screw . interscrew angle was measured between most upper and lower screws with cobb 's methods.resultsoverall fusion rate was 86.2% on plain radiography . fusion was also assessed by ct scan and bridwell 's grading system . there was no difference in fusion and subsidence rates between two groups . subsidence was found in 5 patients ( 17.2% ) . segmental lordotic angle was increased from preoperative status and maximized at the immediate postoperative period and then reduced at 1 year follow up . segmental height showed similar increase and decrease values.conclusionacdf with allograft and plate showed favorable fusion rates , and the screw type and angle did not affect results of surgery .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: they have more conservative cavity designs which basically rely on the effectiveness of current dentin bonding agents . however , composite resins still have some limitations in use due to their physical properties,[3 - 5 ] polymerization shrinkage , microleakage , low wear resistance and color stability,[7 - 8 ] and lower bond strength to dentin compared with enamel . these properties are related to each other somehow ; polymerization shrinkage can cause composite debonding , leading to gap formation , microleakage , secondary caries and so on . thus composite resin bond strength to dentin plays an important role in restoration success since the major surfaces of a preparation to be bonded are in dentin , in different depths , sometimes without any enamel margins . although enamel and dentin are both highly hydrophilic , bonding mechanism seems to be different in each substrate because of basic differences in their organic and inorganic contents . therefore , bonding to dentin presents a much greater challenge than to enamel , especially in deeper dentin due to a decrease in inter - tubular dentin and an increase in tubular diameter as well as tubular fluid.[13 - 14]efforts to improve clinical performance of methacrylate - based composite resins have led to the development of new monomers such as ring - opening silorane and new filler technology such as nanofillers . filtek p90 ( p90 ) and filtek z350 ( z350 ) are two dental composite resins on the market that have lower polymerization shrinkage and improved mechanical properties , respectively when compared with other composite resins . ring - opening polymerization technique in the silorane system , like p90 , is a recent important development in dental composite resins . the term silorane comes from siloxane and oxirane , which combines their two advantages , i.e. high hydrophobicity from siloxane and ring - opening monomer from oxirane , to make silorane , with a self - etch and primer adhesive system . the ring - opening process seems to be...

statement of the problem : composite bond to dentin is crucial in many clinical conditions particularly in deep cavities without enamel margins due to insufficient penetration of adhesive into demineralized dentin . purpose : the aim of this study was to assess the shear bond strength ( sbs ) of a methacrylate - based and a silorane - based composite resin to surface and deep dentin after pretreatment with dimethyl sulfoxide ( dmso ) . materials and method : eighty extracted human premolars were randomly divided into two groups of flat occlusal dentin with different cuts as a : surface group ( sections just below the dentinoenamel junction ( dej ) and b : deep group ( 2 mm below dej ) . each group was randomly assigned to 4 subgroups and their samples were restored with adper single bond ( asb ) and filtek z350 or silorane system adhesive ( sa ) and filtek p90 composite resins , using a 33 mm cylindrical plastic mold . following these steps , the subgroups were assigned as subgroupa1 : surface dentin+ silorane system primer ( ssp)+ silorane system bonding ( ssb)+ p90 ; subgroup a2 : surface dentin+ 37% etchant ( e37% ) + adper single bond ( asb)+ z350 ; subgroup a3 : surface dentin+ dmso+ ssp+ ssb+ p90 ; subgroup a4 : surface dentin+ e37%+ dmso+ asb+ z350 ; subgroup b1 : deep dentin+ ssp+ ssb+ p90 ; subgroup b2 : deep dentin+ e37%+ asb+ z350 ; subgroup b3 : deep dentin+ dmso+ ssp+ ssb+ p90 ; subgroup b4:dentin + e37% + dmso + asb + z350 . the specimens were thermocycled at 5 2/55 2c for 1000 cycles and then tested for sbs . results : using dmso as dentin conditioner increased sbs of asb to deep dentin ( p < 0.001 ) and sbs of sa to surface dentin ( p= 0.003 ) but had no effect on sbs of sa to deep dentin ( p= 1.00 ) . conclusion : the ability of dmso to increase sbs of asb to deep dentin provides a basis for improving bonding of this composite resin in deep cavities .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: over 5.7 million americans have been diagnosed with heart failure , and with the aging population , this number is expected to increase to 8 million by 2030.13 heart failure is the most common diagnosis among hospitalized patients 65 years of age and older and the leading cause of readmissions in the medicare population.46 accompanying the increasing prevalence of heart failure in older adults is the high burden of treatment , which grows in complexity as the disease progresses and exacerbations occur.7,8 older adults with heart failure also have numerous noncardiac comorbidities ( eg , diabetes , chronic pulmonary disease , depression , anemia , chronic kidney disease ) , which further complicate clinical care and amplify treatment burden.911 previous data suggest that on average , patients with heart failure take 6.8 prescription medications per day , resulting in 10.1 doses per day , not including over - the - counter ( otc ) or complementary and alternative medications.12 as a result , polypharmacy ( often defined as the use of five or more medications ) is a pervasive problem in this population , particularly in older adults.1216 considering this high medication burden , it is not surprising that medication nonadherence ranges from 40% to 60% in heart failure patients.5,17 poor adherence to heart failure medications is associated with deleterious clinical consequences and is a major cause of hospital readmissions.15,1721 a better understanding of factors that may contribute to medication nonadherence , such as medication regimen complexity , is urgently needed , particularly in the elderly population . medication regimen complexity is a term used to describe multiple characteristics of a patient s drug regimen , beyond just the number of medications.22 it includes such factors as number of doses per day , number of units per dose , dosage forms , and additional instructions ( eg , take with food).22 high medication regimen complexity has been associated with medication nonadherence , poor quality of...

purposeheart failure prevalence is increasing in older adults , and polypharmacy is a major problem in this population . we compared medication regimen complexity using the validated patient - level medication regimen complexity index ( pmrci ) tool in young - old ( 6074 years ) versus old - old ( 7589 years ) patients with heart failure . we also compared pmrci between patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy ( iscm ) versus nonischemic cardiomyopathy ( niscm).patients and methodsmedication lists were retrospectively abstracted from the electronic medical records of ambulatory patients aged 6089 years with heart failure . medications were categorized into three types heart failure prescription medications , other prescription medications , and over - the - counter ( otc ) medications and scored using the pmrci tool.resultsthe study evaluated 145 patients ( n=80 young - old , n=65 old - old , n=85 iscm , n=60 niscm , mean age 737 years , 64% men , 81% caucasian ) . mean total pmrci scores ( 32.114.4 , range 384 ) and total medication counts ( 13.34.8 , range 230 ) were high for the entire cohort , of which 72% of patients were taking eleven or more total medications . total and subtype pmrci scores and medication counts did not differ significantly between the young - old and old - old groups , with the exception of otc medication pmrci score ( 6.24 young - old versus 7.85.8 old - old , p=0.04 ) . with regard to heart failure etiology , total pmrci scores and medication counts were significantly higher in patients with iscm versus niscm ( pmrci score 34.515.2 versus 28.812.7 , p=0.009 ; medication count 14.14.9 versus 12.24.5 , p=0.008 ) , which was largely driven by other prescription medications.conclusionmedication regimen complexity is high in older adults with heart failure , and differs based on heart failure etiology . additional work is needed to address polypharmacy and to determine if medication regimen complexity influences adherence and clinical outcomes in this population .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: lung cancer has become a disease of great global impact and remains the leading cause of death from cancer in the world.1 as smoking and environmental pollution can not be controlled in the short term , the incidence of lung cancer continues to increase , especially in females.2,3 in brazil , the estimate for 2010 is approximately 18 new cases per 100 000 men and 10 per 100 000 women , corresponding to 17 800 and 9 930 new cases of lung cancer among men and women respectively.4 advances in lung cancer therapy have been improving survival rates , although the prognosis remains poor . the 5year survival rate is around 15% in developed countries1 and 10% in brazil.4 therefore , the impact of both disease and treatment on the health and psychosocial functioning of these patients should be considered.5 in this context , quality of life assessment and the analysis of the main symptoms that lead to functional capacity limitation have become issues of utmost importance in the evaluation of lung cancer patients . however , in brazil , there are few studies that evaluate this aspect of the disease , mainly because of the lack of specific tools adapted to and reproducible for the brazilian portuguese language . several instruments are currently used to evaluate the quality of life in patients with lung cancer . the functional assessment of cancer therapylung ( factl ) was generated by the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy ( facit ) group . it is a specific , multidimensional questionnaire widely used in clinical studies.6 - 9 moreover , the factlung symptom index ( flsi ) , which is a brief measure involving five common symptoms in lung cancer patients , can be applied in combination with the factl or alone . although the factl is currently used in brazil , mainly in international multicenter trails , there is no study assessing the reliability of this questionnaire in the brazilian portuguese language . therefore , the purpose of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of the factl and the...

objectives : the purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of the brazilian version of the functional assessment of cancer therapylung ( factl ) with the factlung symptom index ( flsi ) questionnaire.introduction:the assessment of quality of life in patients with lung cancer has become an important evaluative endpoint in current clinical trials . for lung cancer patients , one of the most common quality of life tools available is the factl . despite the amount of data available regarding this questionnaire , there are no data on its performance in brazilian lung cancer patients.methods:the factl with the flsi questionnaire was prospectively administered to 30 consecutive , stable , lung cancer outpatients at baseline and at 2 weeks.results:the intraclass correlation coefficient between test and retest for the factl ranged from 0.79 to 0.96 and for the flsi was 0.87 . there was no correlation between these questionnaire dimensions and clinical or functional parameters.conclusions:the brazilian version of the factl with flsi questionnaire is reliable and is quick and simple to apply . this instrument can now be used to properly evaluate the quality of life of brazilian lung cancer patients .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the concept of total mesorectal excision ( tme ) , which was introduced by heald and ryall during the 1980s , has significantly improved the outcome for patients with rectal cancer , particularly with regard to local recurrence . the results of some studies showed that tme was a superior surgical modality for the treatment of rectal cancer because the local recurrence rates were reduced from between 30% and 40% to 5% after tme . therefore tme has been generally accepted as the gold standard for rectal cancer surgery . in the early days of minimally invasive surgery , there was concern about the oncologic safety of the laparoscopic approach for the treatment of colorectal cancer . however , recent reports derived from randomized comparative studies , most of them multicentric , have shown that laparoscopy for the surgical treatment of colon cancer is associated with morbidity , mortality , and long - term cancer - related survival rates similar to those seen with the open approach . the advantages of laparoscopic surgery have translated into smaller incisions and shorter recovery . however , the confines of the narrow bony pelvis and angling limits in current stapling technology , along with the standard practice of autonomic nerve sparing tme , have made laparoscopic surgery more challenging in the treatment of low rectal cancer . because of the absence of long - term ( 5-year ) data on survival and recurrence , the role of laparoscopy in rectal cancer resection has been debated . macroscopic evaluation of the completeness of the mesorectum provides significant information about the quality of surgery for low rectal cancer . the aims of this study were to observe the short - term outcomes and to evaluate the macroscopic quality of specimens acquired after laparoscopic versus open tme in patients with low rectal cancer . from may 2010 to may 2012 , a series of 88 patients with biopsy - proved rectal cancer received laparoscopic radical resection at the department of general surgery of our university hospital...

it is suggested that laparoscopic total mesorectal excision of low - lying rectal cancer has advantages over an open procedure with less blood loss , reduced hospital stay , and a shorter disability period . complete macroscopic surgical resection appears to be aided by improved pelvic view offered by laparoscopy .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: a research report from the chinese center for disease control and prevention showed that the incidence of paraquat poisoning increased by about 47.35% a year on average from 2002 to 2010 . although the survival rate of pq poisoning increased with the improvement of medical levels , there were still a considerable number of patients who died after large doses of oral pq . moderate and severe pq poisoning was mainly characterized by acute lung injury in the early stage and pulmonary fibrosis in the advanced stage . when the patients showed ali / ards or progressive pulmonary fibrosis , the conventional treatment was ineffective . used continuous positive airway pressure ( cpap ) to treat pq poisoning patients with respiratory failure and the patients died in 15 days . histopathology showed overexpansion of pulmonary parenchyma , suggesting that although cpap ventilation could increase lung volume , it might cause lung overexpansion and aggravate lung injury . lung protective strategies of ventilation ( lpvs ) has been proposed to treat ali / ards in recent years , which advocated small vt ventilation ( 6~8 ml / kg ) , permissive hypercapnia , and maintaining alveolus opening by using peep . at present , treating pq - induced acute lung injury by lpvs still lacks support from basic and clinical research . the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of different vt peep on pq - induced acute lung injury , blood gas analysis indexes , oxygenation index , and hemodynamics and aimed to provide theoretical guidance for the clinical application of mechanical ventilation . eighteen female piglets ( 6570 days , 25.02.1 kg ) were obtained from the experimental animal center of henan province , zhengzhou , china . the piglets were provided with water ad libitum and fasted 12 hours before the operation . after intramuscular injection of atropine ( 0.05 mg / kg ) ( harvest pharmaceutical co. ltd , shanghai , china ) and ketamine ( 15 mg / kg ) ( fujian gutian pharmaceutical co. ltd , gutian , china ) , the...

backgroundthe aim of this study was to explore the effects of different tidal volume ( vt ) ventilation on paraquat - induced acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome ( ali / ards ) in piglets.material/methodswe developed ali / ards models in piglets by intraperitoneal injection of paraquat ( pq ) . the piglets were randomly divided into three groups : small vt group ( vt=6 ml / kg , n=6 ) , middle vt group ( vt=10 ml / kg , n=6 ) , and large vt group ( vt=15 ml / kg , n=6 ) , with the positive end - expiratory pressure ( peep ) set as 10 cmh2o . the hemodynamics were monitored by pulse - indicated continuous cardiac output ( picco ) and the airway pressure changes and blood gas analysis indexes were recorded at different time points . the pathological changes were observed by lung puncture.resultsthe piglets showed ali / ards in 4.50.8 hours after pq intraperitoneal injection . ph , pao2 and oxygenation indexes in the three groups all decreased after modeling success compared with baseline , and paco2 increased significantly . ph in the small vt group decreased most obviously after ventilation for 6 hours . pao2 and oxygenation indexes in the small vt group showed the most obvious increase after ventilation for 2 hours and were much higher than the other two groups after ventilation for 6 hours . paco2 increased gradually after mechanical ventilation and the small vt group showed most obvious increase . the elwi increased obviously after ventilation for 2 hours and then the small vt group clearly decreased . pip and plateau pressure ( pplat ) in the small vt group decreased gradually and in the middle and large vt group they increased after ventilation . the lung histopathology showed that the large vt group had the most severe damage and the small vt group had only minimal damage.conclusionssmall tidal volume ventilation combined with peep could alleviate the acute lung injury induced by paraquat and improve oxygenation .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: at present kidney diseases are a major problem across the globe . as per global and regional overview , 1783000 patients are suffering from end stage renal disease ( esrd ) , of which dialysis has been given to 1371000 patients and kidney has been transplanted on 412000 patients suffering from renal failure whom live under particularly pro - oxidative conditions causing uremia ( 1 , 2 ) . treatment option for uremia includes kidney transplantation and dialysis , which are very expensive and not free from side effects . many scientists have tried to find out different phytomedicines to manage uremia ( 3 ) . typically , urea builds up in the patient s blood as the result of inefficiently operating kidneys , which usually results from either acute or chronic kidney failure ( 4 ) . oxidative stress is defined as an imbalance between formation of reactive oxygen species ( ros ) and anti - oxidative defense mechanisms . considering the profound biological effects of ros , in recent years numerous clinical and experimental studies have been focused on detection of signs of oxidative stress in renal patients ( 5 ) . there is good evidence indicating that uremia in general is associated with enhanced oxidative stress ( 5 ) . loss or deficiency of antioxidant activity ( e.g. vitamin e deficiency ) could also contribute to enhanced oxidative stress in uremia . interstitial inflammation and oxidative stress may participate jointly in the development and reduction of the number of nephron units , which thereby limits sodium filtration ( 6 ) . it is known that low density lipoprotein ( ldl ) from uremic patients , presents an elevated susceptibility to oxidation ( 7 ) . uremic oxidative stress is characterized from a biochemical point of view as a state of reactive aldehyde and oxidized thiol group accumulation , together with depletion of reduced thiol groups , which are particularly important as part of antioxidant defense ( 7 ) . as a consequence of diminished renal catabolism and function , uremic oxidant mediators...

the present study has been designed to find out the protective effect of aqueus extract of terminalia arjuna against dehydration induced oxidative stress and uremia , protection by plant extract in male wister strain albino rats , and therefore to find out the scientific basis of local use of terminalia arjuna bark extract by village ayurved doctors to protect the progressive kidney disorder ( renal failure ) relating to dehydration and other related problems . water withdrawing for 15 days in male wister strain albino rats resulted in a significant elevation in the level of blood nitrogenous products ( i.e. urea and creatinine ) . on the other hand , it increased the levels of free radicals , melondialdehyde ( mda ) and conjugated dienes ( cd ) along with a significant diminution in the activities of superoxide dismutse ( sod ) and catalase in blood . all these water markers were significantly prevented after administration of aqueous extract of terminalia arjuna bark . these results suggest that dehydration induced oxidative stress and uremia in male rats may be protected by using the above mentioned medicinal plants extract . this herbal extract showed no toxic effect on blood and kidney , based on the measurements of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and glutamic pyruvic transaminase activities ( data not shown ) .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: behet s disease ( bd ) is the systemic vasculitis of small and large vessels , which affects both veins and arteries . the clinical features of bd indicate that there are distinct geographical differences ; while vascular involvement is detected in 40% of patients in the middle east , the percentage of vascular involvement is 5% - 10% in the far east ( japan ) ( 1 , 2 ) . thrombosis of the major veins such as the superior and inferior vena cava can be seen occasionally . budd - chiari syndrome ( bcs ) is a rare occurrence in the course of bd and carries a high mortality rate . bcs is caused by an outflow obstruction in any part of the hepatic venous system , from the small hepatic veins ( hv ) to the inferior vena cava ( ivc ) ( 3 ) . while thrombosis is more prominent in the west , webs are prominent in the east and in japan . bd is a more prominent etiological factor in turkey than in other countries ( 4 ) . although there are studies that demonstrate the prognostic significance of the portal vein ( pv ) , hv , and ivc in bcs , there are no data in the literature explicating the prognosis and long - term outcomes for bcs that is secondary to bd ( 5 ) . in this retrospective study , we aimed to present the long - term follow - up outcomes for patients with bcs due to bd through clinical findings , laboratory test results , and the determination of vascular involvement . the data for 402 patients diagnosed with bd ( according to the diagnostic criteria for bd given by the international study group in 1990 ) , who received regular follow ups at the rheumatology department at eskisehir osmangazi university medical faculty between 1998 and 2014 , were evaluated retrospectively ( 6 ) . of the 402 patients with bd , 96 ( 23.9% ) doppler ultrasound ( dusg ) and computed tomography ( ct ) were used as the first - line imaging modalities for the diagnosis of bcs . dusg and magnetic resonance imaging ( mr ) or ct ( for patients for whom mr was not suitable ) were the preferred techniques for the long - term follow up...

backgroundbudd - chiari syndrome , which is a rare complication of behcet s disease , carries a high mortality rate.objectivesthe aim of the study was to present our long - term follow up experience with patients suffering from budd - chiari syndrome due to behcet s disease.methodsthe records of 402 patients with behcet s disease were evaluated retrospectively . to facilitate detection of the long - term complications caused by budd - chiari syndrome , the patients were evaluated via physical examinations , laboratory tests , imaging modalities , and endoscopy results.resultsthe data for 402 patients diagnosed with behcet s disease , who were followed up at our hospital over 16 years , were analyzed retrospectively . five of these 402 patients ( 1.2% ) were diagnosed as having budd - chiari syndrome . the patients with budd - chiari syndrome were aged between 23 and 54 , and all five were male . the interval between the onset of behcet s disease and the development of budd - chiari syndrome ranged from 1 to 8 years . all the patients had combined venous occlusion ( affecting the hepatic vein and inferior vena cava ) . portal venous thrombosis was detected in only one patient ( case 1 ) , who died 1 month after the diagnosis of budd - chiari syndrome . the survival time for the other four patients after the diagnosis of budd - chiari syndrome ranged from 4 to 16 years . during the long - term follow - up , hepatic masses were detected via radiological surveillance in case 3 ( in the form of large regenerative nodules ) and case 4 ( nodular regenerative hyperplasia and cirrhosis).conclusionsin our study , portal venous thrombosis was detected in the patient who died during the acute period only . a study including large numbers of budd - chiari - syndrome patients with behcet s disease and portal venous thrombosis would be helpful to determine the prognostic significance of portal venous thrombosis in budd - chiari - syndrome patients with behcet s disease . in addition , patients should be...

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the issue of child sex selection and gender preferences is as old as human life . it seems that the historical tendency to determine the sex of the child is rooted in religious , economic , cultural - social and medical issues . until recently , sex selection seemed impossible , but modern medical technologies in the area of reproduction and genetics such as pre - implantation genetic diagnosis ( pgd ) , introduce some assured methods for the couples regarding embryo sex selection before embryo transfer to uterus . currently , the reasons for using child sex selection technology can be categorized into three groups : a ) preventing from the birth of babies with severe sex - linked diseases , b ) choosing the gender of the baby to balance the child sex combination in the family and c ) the freeness to choose the gender of the baby ( 1 , 2 ) . when sex selection is used for medical care , a small number of ethical issues are mentioned . problems usually arise when these methods are used in non - medical cases ( 3 , 4 ) . the sex selection technologies may cause gender discrimination or the gender imbalance in community ( 57 ) . the most countries , including european ones , accepted the prohibition of sex selection except in medical cases . furthermore , they concluded that there is not enough acceptable reason to prohibit sex selection in case of social causes such as family balancing ( 811 ) . the decline in fertility in modern societies makes sex determination technology essential to prevent the repeated pregnancies ( 12 ) . if couples have one or two children , they may be more inclined towards sex selection in order to have children of the preferred sex , or both sexes . investigating the causes of the couples tendency to embryo sex selection before transfer to the uterus , especially in non - medical cases are very important factors for consideration . social and ethical reasons of the tendency toward this attitude need to be assessed ; moreover , the relation between this determination and the parents...

backgroundgender preference is prevalent in some communities and using medical techniques to choose the baby 's sex may cause the gender discrimination and gender imbalance in communities . therefore , evaluating the gender preferences and attitudes towards using sex selection technologies seems to be necessary.methodsthis cross - sectional study was conducted in avicenna fertility center . participants were 100 women with one child who were referred for sex selection . data were collected through self - developed questionnaires . the questions were designed by the researchers at the experts panel . to determine the validity of the questionnaire , the viewpoints of professors specialized in these issues were obtained . the statistical analysis of the data was performed using spss software ( version 11.5 ) , and p < 0.05 was considered significant.resultstendency toward the male was more than female sex ( 55.5% male , 15.5% female and 28.5% no tendency ) . majority of participants agreed with sex selection with medical reason and sex selection in order to balance the family . women 's level of education had positive effect on agreements to fetal sex selection with medical and non - medical reasons ( p < 0.001).conclusionalthough gender preferences were toward the male sex but this preference was not very strong . most participants agreed with non - medical sex selection for balancing the sex composition of their children . it does n't seem that non - medical sex selection for family balancing causes severe sex imbalance in iran .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: normal pressure hydrocephalus ( nph ) is characterized by a clinical triad of symptoms including cognitive impairment , gait difficulty , and urinary incontinence along with ventricular enlargement in brain imaging . nph is considered as idiopathic ( inph ) when there are no known predisposing factors such as subarachnoid haemorrhage or brain trauma . nph can be treated by shunt but the response rate is highly sensitive for selection of patients [ 2 , 3 ] . alzheimer 's disease ( ad ) is along with vascular dementia ( vad ) the most frequent differential diagnosis for inph . several supplementary diagnostic tests of cerebrospinal fluid ( csf ) dynamics are used in the selection of patients to shunt surgery . the csf tap test or external lumbar drainage test ( eld ) can predict the shunt response with high specificity and are widely used . infusion tests where usually ringer - solution is infused into csf space with simultaneous csf pressure monitoring to calculate outflow conductance or outflow resistance are also used . in addition , intracranial pressure monitoring alone or together with cortical brain biopsy to detect ad - related pathological findings has been suggested . csf biomarkers reflecting ongoing pathophysiological processes might further help in the evaluation of patients with suspected inph . previous reviews have pointed out several potential csf biomarkers associated with nph but all of them still requiring further verification . there are numerous experimental studies in both acute and chronic hydrocephalus that provide translational evidence for the role of metabolic changes and markers in parallel with hydrocephalus and disturbed csf dynamics , for example , as reported by kondziella et al . . tumour necrosis factor- ( tnf- ) , a proinflammatory cytokine , seems to be one of the most promising since up to 45-fold increased csf concentrations compared with healthy controls have been observed in nph prior to treatment along with normalization after shunt . however , the patients with...

the diagnosis of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus ( inph ) is still challenging . alzheimer 's disease ( ad ) , along with vascular dementia , the most important differential diagnosis for inph , has several potential cerebrospinal fluid ( csf ) biomarkers which might help in the selection of patients for shunt treatment . the aim of this study was to compare a battery of csf biomarkers including well - known ad - related proteins with csf from patients with suspected inph collected from the external lumbar drainage test ( eld ) . a total of 35 patients with suspected inph patients were evaluated with eld . csf was collected in the beginning of the test , and the concentrations of total tau , ptau181 , a42 , nfl , tnf- , tgf1 , and vegf were analysed by elisa . twenty - six patients had a positive eld result that is , their gait symptoms improved ; 9 patients had negative eld . the levels of all analyzed csf biomarkers were similar between the groups and none of them predicted the eld result in these patients . contrary to expectations lumbar csf tnf- concentration was low in inph patients .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: in 2004 , denosumab was under development for treating osteoporosis , progressing from proof of concept to registration trials.1 questions existed that could not be practically addressed with clinical studies due to the protracted dosing interval ( q6 m ) and required trial duration , nor by traditional pkpd models . they included questions about possible effects of drug regimen changes , treatment discontinuation , prior treatments , and sampling schemes . these questions , together with general uncertainty in the scientific community regarding the physiologic links between clinical markers ( e.g. , serum calcium , parathyroid hormone [ pth ] , bone turnover markers ) , clinical endpoints ( e.g. , bone mineral density [ bmd ] ) , and complex linkages between bone and calcium homeostasis , led the authors to embark on creating a model that incorporated much of the known bone physiology and was dependent on maintaining calcium 's narrow physiologic range . the representation of calcium homeostatic mechanisms was paramount to ensuring model extensibility to calcium and pth - related mechanisms . the initial scientific objective was to arrive at a qspm connecting bone turnover markers with bmd using known links between organs involved in calcium homeostasis , including bone and relevant cellular mechanisms ( figure 1 ) . thus , the necessary level of complexity and the nature of datasets mandatorily described simultaneously by the model were crucial questions . data used included measures of longitudinal system perturbations by drug therapies ( e.g. , teriparatide ) and disease states ( e.g. , progressive renal failure ) . interestingly , while constructing the qspm , scientific knowledge gaps became vividly clear , and produced an unexpected value . the gaps forced assumptions to be made about a pathway 's importance , a diseases ' influence , or a drug 's potential , and subsequent sensitivity testing of those assumptions . in doing so , knowledge limitations became clearer and true understanding of the...

in the evolving discipline of quantitative systems pharmacology ( qsp ) , qsp model ( qspm ) applications are expanding . recently , a qspm was used by us food and drug administration ( fda ) clinical pharmacologists to evaluate the appropriateness of a proposed dosing regimen for a new biologic . this application expands the use - horizon for qspms into the regulatory domain . here we retrace the evolution of the model and suggest a question - based approach to directing model scope , identifying applications , and understanding overall qspm value .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the use of cardiopulmonary bypass ( cpb ) , bleeding ( during and after surgery ) , frequent blood analyses ( before , during and after surgery ) , hemodilution , significant shift of intravascular volume , mechanical trauma of blood cells , therapeutic hypothermia , co - morbidities , the use of anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs ( before , during and after surgery ) , transfusion of blood products , cause significant changes in the three major cellular components of the hematopoietic system ( 1 ) . experience and literature have shown that the values of peripheral blood parameters ( number , size , function ) undergo significant changes during the early phase of the surgery , gradually recovery during the postoperative period and reach the preoperative ( baseline ) values 2 - 6 months after surgery ( 2 ) . removal of pro inflammatory stimuli after surgery , wound closure and the regenerative ability of the bone marrow will ensure a gradual recovery to preoperative values of the hematological parameters . the aim of this study was to assess the hematological changes after artery bypass graft surgery ( cabg ) . between january 2012 and january 2013 , 164 consecutive patients ( 138 men and 26 women ) underwent elective cabg surgery at our division of cardiac surgery . patients undergoing emergent surgery or off - pump cabg were not included in this study . patients were reviewed for their preoperative demographic , clinical ( coronary artery disease severity and co - morbidities ) and laboratory variables and then followed to record their postoperative data and outcomes . hematological parameters were assessed before surgery ( d-1 ) and after surgery : at the first day ( d+1 ; the second day ( d+2 ) , the patient was transferred from the intensive care unit to the ward ; the third day ( d+3 ) ; the fourth day ( d+4 ) ; the sixth day ( d+6 ) , the patient left the hospital ; at the end of the second week ( d+14 ) , the third week ( d+21 ) , the fourth week ( d+28 ) and the twelfth week ( d+90 ) . to achieve a...

objectives : removal of pro inflammatory stimuli after cabg , wound closure and the regenerative ability of the bone marrow will ensure a gradual recovery of hematological parameters . the aim of this study was to assess the hematological changes after cabg.materials and methods : a prospective cohort study included 164 consecutive patients undergoing on pump cabg surgery between january 2012 and january 2013 . patients with primary hematologic disease , emergent or urgent cabg and off - pump cabg were not included . a time line protocol was employed.results:all patients survived surgery . average values of erythrocytes , hemoglobin and hematocrit declined , to reach lower values on day 3 after surgery ( -33.6 % , -33.1 % , -32.6 % versus preoperative value , p<0.001 ) and then gradually increased to reach normal values after one month and the preoperative values after three months . the average values of leukocytes and neutrophils increased rapidly to achieve the highest value on day 2 , while the average value of lymphocytes decreased quickly to achieve lower value on day 1 after surgery ( + 74.7 % , + 127.1 % , -52.4 % respectively from the preoperative value , p<0.001 ) . the average platelet count decreased to the lowest value on day 2 after surgery ( -26.4 % from the preoperative value , p<0.001 ) , after which gradually increased up to + 100.8 % of preoperative value on day 14 ( p<0.001 ) and then gradually decreased to reach normal values on day 21 and preoperative values after three months.conclusions:average values of the three peripheral blood cells parameters undergo important changes after cabg , but not life threatening , and regain normal and preoperative values after 1 - 3 months after surgery .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: studies have demonstrated that photorefractive keratectomy ( prk ) and laser in situ keratomileusis ( lasik ) for myopia are safe and predictable . the application of excimer laser for the treatment of hyperopia started in the late 90s.13 in this process , a paracentral meniscus of the corneal stroma is removed to steepen the central cornea . initially , prk with the excimer laser was used to corrected hyperopia . however , postoperative corneal haze restricted prk for hyperopia , and eventually lasik became the most common method for the correction of hyperopia . lasik , however , has certain limitations and drawbacks such as flap related complications,4 dry eye,5 and keratectasia.6 in addition , patients at risk of trauma and/or those with thin corneas are not eligible for lasik . the prevention of corneal haze with mitomycin - c ( mmc)7 has resulted in the resurgence of prk for keratorefractive surgery . the outcomes of hyperopic prk have been promising ; however , the predictability is lower , compared to myopic prk . published results indicate comparable efficacy for prk and lasik for the correction of up to 4.00 d of hyperopia.891011121314151617 however , few studies have assessed the outcomes of hyperopic prk with the application of mmc ( prk - mmc ) . here , we present 1-year outcomes and complications with hyperopic prk - mmc for the treatment of mild to moderate hyperopia . from december 2009 to december 2010 , consecutive cases of hyperopia undergoing prk - mmc were approached . all excimer ablations were done using either the allegretto wave concerto ( alcon inc . , fort worth , tx , usa ) or the technolas 217-z ( bausch and lomb inc . preoperatively , all patients were at least 20 years of age , and they had stable refraction in the past 18 months ( < 0.50 diopters [ d ] change ) . none of the patients had any history of ocular surgery , connective tissue disorders , or diabetes , and they were not using any medication that might interfere with wound healing . soft contact lens users stopped...

purpose : to evaluate refractive and visual outcomes of photorefractive keratectomy with mitomycin - c . ( prk - mmc ) for the treatment of mild to moderate hyperopia.materials and methods : this case series enrolled 21 patients with up to + 5.50 diopters ( d ) of hyperopia . all 42 eyes were treated with the concerto ( wavelight ) or the technolas 217-z ( bausch and lomb ) excimer laser . outcome measures included best corrected distance vision acuity ( bcva ) and uncorrected distance vision correction and refraction at 1 , 3 , 6 , and 12 months postoperatively.results:mean patient age was 44.8 11.3 years . preoperatively , mean manifest refractive spherical equivalent ( mrse ) was + 2.00 d 0.76 d and mean spherical refractive error was + 2.57 d 0.87 d ( range , + 1.25 d to + 5.50 d ) . at 12 months postoperatively , mean mrse was + 0.1 d 0.61 d. mrse was within 0.50 d of emmetropia in 29 eyes ( 69% ) , and 18 eyes ( 43% ) had 20/20 uncorrected distant visual acuity . bcva increased by two lines or more in three eyes ( 7.1% ) and one line in two eyes ( 4.7% ) ; 31 eyes showed no change , three eyes ( 7.1% ) lost one line , and three other eyes ( 7.1% ) lost two lines of bcva . no eyes lost more than two lines of bcva . complications included grade 2 peripheral haze in two eyes which cleared by 12 months postoperatively.conclusion:prk-mmc was a safe and predictable method for the correction of mild to moderate hyperopia .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the incidence of kidney stones has been increasing in korea with the rise in dietary and lifestyle changes influenced by western countries . nephrolithiasis is one of the common causes of morbidity and deterioration of quality of life in the united states , with a lifetime prevalence of 5% to 10% . in addition , urolithiasis is a recurrent disease , with lifetime recurrence risks reported to be as high as 50% . given this high incidence and recurrence , technological advances have been made to dramatically improve minimally invasive techniques for the management of kidney stones , such as percutaneous nephrolithotomy ( pcnl ) , extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy ( eswl ) , and retrograde intrarenal surgery ( rirs ) . although eswl and rirs are currently widely used as less - invasive treatment modalities for renal stones , pcnl still has a role depending on the size , position , shape , and composition of the stones . pcnl is recommended as the treatment of choice for large renal stones ( > 20 mm ) and for lower calyceal stones sized 10 to 20 mm with unfavorable factors for eswl according to updated european association of urology guidelines . since its initial introduction in 1976 by fernstrom and johansson , pcnl has been widely performed for the management of large and complex renal stones and it remains the gold standard approach for difficult - to - treat renal stones ( staghorn calculi , hard stones , stones associated with abnormal renal anatomy , and stones that have failed treatment with other less - invasive methods ) . however , although pcnl is considered as a minimally invasive procedure for stone removal , it is still a challenging surgical technique and can be associated with critical complications such as bleeding and septicemia . in addition , as the indications for rirs have expanded , it has supplanted eswl and pcnl for the treatment of some renal stones . nevertheless , many efforts have been made to reduce morbidity and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of pcnl ( table 1 ) ,...

since its initial introduction in 1976 , percutaneous nephrolithotomy ( pcnl ) has been widely performed for the management of large renal stones and currently is recommended for staghorn calculi , kidney stones larger than 2 cm , and shock wave lithotripsy - resistant lower pole stones greater than 1 cm . however , except for open and laparoscopic surgery , pcnl is the most invasive of the minimally invasive stone surgery techniques . over the years , technical and instrumental advances have been made in pcnl to reduce morbidity and improve effectiveness . a thorough review of the recent literature identified five major areas of progress for the advancement of pcnl : patient positioning , method of percutaneous access , development of lithotriptors , miniaturized access tracts , and postoperative nephrostomy tube management . this review provides an overview of recent advancements in pcnl and the outcomes of each area of progress and notes how much we achieve with less invasive pcnl . this information may allow us to consider the future role and future developments of pcnl .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the growth of flexible ureteroscopy ( urs ) in the asian subcontinent has not been as fast as its potential appears to be . the factors responsible for this are perhaps the high initial cost and the maintenance cost involved in flexible urs . it is a well - known fact that the damage to the instrument is more so during the initial learning curve . the high maintenance cost is probably related to the wear and tear of the flexible endoscope . the learning curve reduces with the utilization of a skills laboratory for the human body . the higher the fidelity of a model , i.e. the ability to simulate a more life - like situation , the better it is supposed to be . high - fidelity simulators are those that are more lifelike , often with the ability to move beyond simple skill or task training and simulate partial or whole operations . commercially available high - fidelity simulators such as the uro - scopic trainer ; limbs and things and endo - urologie - modell ; karl storz offer the advantages of reusability , realistic anatomy and the ability to use real surgical instruments such as flexible endoscopes . a relatively new category of simulation , vr , has arisen as a result of significant improvements in computing and graphics capabilities . while expensive and requiring maintenance , vr simulators such as uro mentor offer the opportunity to practice basic skills or entire surgical procedures in virtually rendered environments . the cost of a high - fidelity model , especially the vr model , is high and prohibitive . this enables them to acquire the necessary psychomotor skills and confidence to start the procedure for a real human scenario . surgical skills laboratory relies on bench models and virtual reality ( vr ) simulators , which serve as surrogates . we determined the closeness to reality of each model and also whether any had advantages in terms of hastening skill acquisition . for this , we used two high - fidelity non - vr bench models and a vr model . the inclusion criteria were : a participant...

objective : we performed a comparative study of high - fidelity training models for flexible ureteroscopy ( urs ) . our objective was to determine whether high - fidelity non - virtual reality ( vr ) models are as effective as the vr model in teaching flexible urs skills.materials and methods : twenty - one trained urologists without clinical experience of flexible urs underwent dry lab simulation practice . after a warm - up period of 2 h , tasks were performed on a high - fidelity non - vr ( uro - scopic trainer ; endo - urologie - modell ) and a high - fidelity vr model ( uro mentor ) . the participants were divided equally into three batches with rotation on each of the three stations for 30 min . performance of the trainees was evaluated by an expert ureteroscopist using pass rating and global rating score ( grs ) . the participants rated a face validity questionnaire at the end of each session.results:the grs improved statistically at evaluation performed after second rotation ( p<0.001 for batches 1 , 2 and 3 ) . pass ratings also improved significantly for all training models when the third and first rotations were compared ( p<0.05 ) . the batch that was trained on the vr - based model had more improvement on pass ratings on second rotation but could not achieve statistical significance . most of the realistic domains were higher for a vr model as compared with the non - vr model , except the realism of the flexible endoscope.conclusions:all the models used for training flexible urs were effective in increasing the grs and pass ratings irrespective of the vr status .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: in terms of enteral nutritional support , percutaneous endoscopic gastroscopy ( peg ) is widely accepted as a safe and effective approach . however , some general complications have been reported , such as skin infection of peri - gastrostomy site , ileus , leakage , tubal obstruction , stomach perforation , hemorrhage , peritonitis , pulmonary aspiration and buried bumper syndrome etc.1 - 6 gstrocolocutaneous fistula , defined as an epithelial linkage between the mucosa of the stomach , colon and skin , is rare but also is included as one of the complications . the typical symptoms of gastrocolocutaneous fistula are severe diarrhea , malnutritional status , gram negative pulmonary infection and feculent vomiting,7 and the fistula is diagnosed by complementary work - up of fistulography using barium or gastrografin injection through the peg tube , abdominal computed tomography ( ct ) , gastroscopy and colonoscopy . this report will present the case of a patient who had a gastrocolocutaneous fistula after peg procedure and treated by endoscopic procedure . a peg tube insertion was performed to a 72-year - old female patient who was suffering from medullary infarction for the purpose of enteral nutrition ( fig . three days after the peg , however , yellowish fecal materials were drained through the peg tube during gastric remnant volume examination before feeding . six days after the procedure , we performed the endoscopy , and the fecal materials were attached to gastric wall and the end of the peg tube was away from the location where it had been originally positioned , and was partially buried ( fig . . the tube was immediately removed , and peripheral total parenteral nutrition without oral intake was started . at the follow - up the day after removing the peg tube , abdominal ct was conducted , and colonoscopy was also conducted 3 days after the abdomen ct since there was no spontaneous closure of gastrostomy site and fecal drainage was sustained . on the abdomen ct , the transverse colon was located in...

as a rare complication of percutaneous endoscopic gastroscopy ( peg ) , a gastrocolocutaneous fistula may occur after peg placement . this paper reports an interesting case which peg tube unintentionally penetrated transverse colon during peg . a 72-year - old female patient who suffered from medullary infarction underwent peg procedure for enteral nutrition , and fecal materials were observed 6 days after the procedure . transverse colon located in antero - superior site of stomach was observed through abdominal computed tomography , and also the wrong inserted tube was found through gastroscopy and colonoscopy . endoscopic treatment for the fistula was performed by the use of hemo - clip and detachable snare , closure of the fistula was finally confirmed 6 days after the endoscopic procedure . therefore , the gastrocolocutaneous fistula should be considered as one of the complications of peg when fecal material is observed through peg tube in a few days after peg procedure and endoscopic treatment can be feasible in this case .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the closing article in the series celebrating the 30th anniversary of diabetes control and complications trial / epidemiology of diabetes interventions and complications ( dcct / edic ) study reflects on how past investigations have shaped the study s future directions . the preceding articles on retinopathy , nephropathy , neuropathy , and cardiovascular disease have provided detailed updates on the state of the complications of diabetes in the cohort over the past 30 years . collectively , the message is clear : chronic glycemia is the major modifiable factor driving the development and progression of the complications of type 1 diabetes ( 16 ) . with intensive management of their diabetes , patients can achieve lower glycemia and reduce the risk of developing complications , including severe disease ( 7 ) . in turn , patients free of complications report a good and sustained diabetes - related quality of life ( 8) . the substantial effects of intensive therapy on primary prevention during dcct , compounded by metabolic memory established during edic , make it imperative to intervene with intensive therapy as early after diagnosis as possible to effectively slow the course of complications . as we move forward , the durability of our intervention will continue to be monitored : will the effects of intensive therapy metabolic memory decrease over time ? edic will continue to monitor the trajectory of the development and progression of microvascular and cardiovascular disease . dcct / edic core studies have been the foundation for many collaborations , each initiative advancing our understanding of the multisystem effects of diabetes and guiding future clinical and basic science investigations ( fig . , several new ancillary studies are planned to investigate clinical topics across diverse fields , such as residual -cell function , hearing dysfunction , and gastric disturbances . the dcct / edic core investigations have been the center of a diverse array of supplemental studies and collaborations over the...

objectivethe diabetes control and complications trial / epidemiology of diabetes interventions and complications ( dcct / edic ) study continues to address knowledge gaps in our understanding of type 1 diabetes and the effects of intensive therapy on its long - term complications.research design and methodsduring the dcct ( 19821993 ) , a controlled clinical trial of 1,441 subjects with type 1 diabetes , and the edic ( 1994present ) , an observational study of the dcct cohort , core data collection has included medical history questionnaires , surveillance health exams , and frequent laboratory and other evaluations for microvascular and macrovascular disease . numerous collaborations have expanded the outcome data with more detailed investigations of cardiovascular disease , cognitive function , neuropathy , genetics , and potential biological pathways involved in the development of complications.resultsthe longitudinal follow - up of the dcct / edic cohort provides the opportunity to continue monitoring the durability of intensive treatment as well as to address lingering questions in type 1 diabetes research . future planned analyses will address the onset and progression of microvascular triopathy , evidence - based screening for retinopathy and nephropathy , effects of glycemic variability and nonglycemic risk factors on outcomes , long - term impact of intensive therapy on cognitive decline , and health economics . three new proposed investigations include an examination of residual c - peptide secretion and its impact , prevalence of hearing impairment , and evaluation of gastrointestinal dysfunction.conclusionswith the comprehensive data collection and the remarkable participant retention over 30 years , the dcct / edic continues as an irreplaceable resource for understanding type 1 diabetes and its long - term complications .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study:

the role of protein dynamics in the reaction catalyzed by dihydrofolate reductase from the hyperthermophile thermotoga maritima ( tmdhfr ) has been examined by enzyme isotope substitution ( 15n , 13c , 2h ) . in contrast to all other enzyme reactions investigated previously , including dhfr from escherichia coli ( ecdhfr ) , for which isotopic substitution led to decreased reactivity , the rate constant for the hydride transfer step is not affected by isotopic substitution of tmdhfr . tmdhfr therefore appears to lack the coupling of protein motions to the reaction coordinate that have been identified for ecdhfr catalysis . clearly , dynamical coupling is not a universal phenomenon that affects the efficiency of enzyme catalysis .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the species richness of flowering plant lineages shows tremendous variation amongst clades , indicating that certain traits influence speciation and/or extinction rates . in plants , many traits have been associated with evolutionarily success , such as self - incompatibility and floral asymmetry . the reasons why certain traits are associated with increased diversification are often intuitive : some traits inherently encourage speciation via increased genetic diversity ( self - incompatibility ) or an association with increased opportunities for the evolution of specialization ( floral asymmetry ) . while geographical distribution might be also influence diversification rates [ 3 , 4 ] because speciation may accompany the establishment in new ecozones , the effects of geographical area are far from fully understood . on the one hand , increased geographical extent provides more opportunities for allopatric speciation ( i.e. , the geographical potential for speciation ) . if increased geographical extent is simply caused by high dispersal rates , however , gene flow is maintained and hinders speciation . the optimal conditions of dispersal for speciation appear to be met in island systems , where many classic examples of adaptive radiations are found . recent evidence indicates that island - like systems can also be found in mountainous areas , suggesting that mountain peaks also provide the right balance between dispersal and isolation to accelerate speciation , yet these patterns are not as well characterized . one reason why mountain peaks may differ from true island systems is that speciation may occur between lowland and high elevation bands as well as between isolated mountain peaks . in flowering plants , the gene flow between lowland and high elevation bands may decline because pollinators differ along elevation clines , potentially leading to floral isolation [ 11 , 12 ] . pollinating fauna exhibit geographical heterogeneity and these differences in composition could play a central role in why...

the vast diversity of floral colours in many flowering plant families , paired with the observation of preferences among pollinators , suggests that floral colour may be involved in the process of speciation in flowering plants . while transitions in floral colour have been examined in numerous genera , we have very little information on the consequences of floral colour transitions to the evolutionary success of a clade . overlaid upon these patterns is the possibility that certain floral colours are more prevalent in certain environments , with the causes of differential diversification being more directly determined by geographical distribution . here we examine transition rates to anthocyanin + carotenoid rich ( red / orange / fuschia ) flowers and examine whether red / orange flowers are associated with differences in speciation and/or extinction rates in mimulus . because it has been suggested that reddish flowers are more prevalent at high elevation , we also examine the macroevolutionary evidence for this association and determine if there is evidence for differential diversification at high elevations . we find that , while red / orange clades have equivalent speciation rates , the trait state of reddish flowers reverts more rapidly to the nonreddish trait state . moreover , there is evidence for high speciation rates at high elevation and no evidence for transition rates in floral colour to differ depending on elevation .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study:

cofactors involved in respiratory tract carcinogenesis were studied in syrian golden hamsters or in rats using benzo(a)pyrene as the carcinogenic agent . these factors included severe tissue damage induced by electro - coagulation , glass fibers administered by intratracheal instillation , acetaldehyde as irritant vapor , food restriction , and nutrients such as vitamin a and saturated and unsaturated fats . in addition , the effects of a combined exposure to four different major gaseous cigarette smoke components -- methyl nitrate , isoprene , methyl chloride and acetaldehyde -- and to one solid cigarette smoke component -- norharman -- were examined in short- and long - term inhalation studies . an interesting finding was the carcinogenicity of acetaldehyde , of which the possible mechanism is briefly discussed . another conspicuous observation was the substantial increase in number and size of lipid droplets in alveolar fibroblasts of hamsters fed a high vitamin a diet.imagesfigure 1.figure 2.figure 3.figure 4.figure 5.figure 6.figure 7 .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the maldi - tof ms spectrum of c. massiliense is available online ( http://www.mediterranee-infection.com/article.php?laref=256&titre=urms-database ) . strain marseille - p3295 was deposited in the collection de souches de l'unit des rickettsies ( csur , wdcm 875 ) under number p3295 .

we report the main characteristics of a new genus , congobacterium, and a new species , congobacterium massiliense, strain marseille - p3295 ( csur p3295 ) , a new member in the order coribacteriacea , which was isolated from a stool sample of a healthy 50-year - old pygmy ( baka ) woman .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: jaundice presenting after cholecystectomy may be the initial manifestation of a serious surgical misadventure and requires rigorous diagnostic pursuit and therapeutic intervention . a 23-year - old female underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstones and three weeks postoperatively developed painless jaundice . radiographic and endoscopic studies revealed a subhepatic biloma causing extrinsic compression and obstruction of the common hepatic duct . percutaneous catheter drainage of the biloma combined with endoscopic sphincterotomy successfully relieved the extrahepatic biliary obstruction and resolved the intrahepatic ductal leak responsible for the biloma . although heretofore undescribed , post - cholecystectomy jaundice due to extrahepatic bile duct obstruction caused by biloma may occur and can be successfully treated by means of standard radiologic and endoscopic interventions . extrahepatic biliary obstruction following cholecystectomy is a worrisome occurrence that mandates immediate investigation to determine its cause . when choledocholithiasis is found not to be responsible , the etiology is usually a serious iatrogenic injury to the common bile duct , common hepatic duct , or both . less frequently , the obstruction is due to an obscure and self - limited process , such as inflammatory swelling of the duct . bilomas occurring after cholecystectomy are due to major or minor biliary leaks and virtually always imply an operative technical error . most patients with bilomas present with right upper abdominal pain and/or fever , and only rarely do they suffer gastrointestinal obstructive symptoms , such as nausea and emesis . although bilomas have frequently accompanied biliary ductal injuries , to our knowledge biloma has not been previously reported to cause biliary obstruction by extrinsic compression of the adjacent bile duct . a 23-year - old hispanic female underwent an apparently uneventful laparoscopic cholecystectomy for symptomatic cholelithiasis . no anatomic...

background : jaundice presenting after cholecystectomy may be the initial manifestation of a serious surgical misadventure and requires rigorous diagnostic pursuit and therapeutic intervention . biloma is a well recognized postcholecystectomy complication that often accompanies biliary ductal injury.case report : a 23-year - old female underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstones and three weeks postoperatively developed painless jaundice . radiographic and endoscopic studies revealed a subhepatic biloma causing extrinsic compression and obstruction of the common hepatic duct.results:percutaneous catheter drainage of the biloma combined with endoscopic sphincterotomy successfully relieved the extrahepatic biliary obstruction and resolved the intrahepatic ductal leak responsible for the biloma.conclusion:although heretofore undescribed , post - cholecystectomy jaundice due to extrahepatic bile duct obstruction caused by biloma may occur and can be successfully treated by means of standard radiologic and endoscopic interventions .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: a 59-year - old womon presented with an abnormal mass on chest x - ray that was discovered during a routine check - up . we obtained a biopsy though endobronchial ultrasound and pathologically diagnosed a thymoma ( type a ) . contrast - enhanced computed tomography showed a smooth , solitary homogeneously enhanced mass measuring 33.52 cm in the right paratracheal area , which had no calcification ( fig . the resected specimen was a firm light - gray tumor with a smooth capsule that measured 4.532.5 cm . postoperative follow - up proceeded without any problems , and the patient was discharged after 5 days . microscopy revealed that the tumor was a thymoma ( world health organization type a+b2 , masaoka staging i ) ( fig . the majority of thymomas are found in the anterior mediastinum . only a few thymic masses arising out of the anterior mediastinum have been described in the literature , and these have been found in an ectopic thymus location such as the neck , pulmonary hilus , or posterior mediastinum . the thymus arises embryologically from the third pharyngeal pouch and branchail cleft on each side . the thymic masses from each side then move toward each other and migrate from the midline to the anterior mediastinum and their final position . the incidence of ectopic thymic tissue is 3% to 5% in the retroinnomiate vein ( i.e. , a paratracheal site ) . surgical resection has been used for both a firm diagnosis and treatment in previously reported cases of a middle mediastinum thymoma . sakurai et al . reported that 18f - fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ( pet ) scan and 11c - acetate pet are useful for diagnosing a thymoma from the middle mediastinum as ectopic thymic tissue . castleman disease is an atypical lymphoproliferative disorder , and masses are commonly located in the chest . most patients are asymptomatic and lesions are accidentally found on chest x - ray as rounded mediastinal masses , often mistaken for a thymoma . thymomas rarely arise in the middle mediastinum , and thymoma...

thymoma is a common anterior mediastinal mass , although thymomas have occasionally been found in the neck , pulmonary hillus , or posterior mediastinum . but a thymoma within the middle mediastinum has rarely been reported . we report a thymoma arising in the middle mediastinum with a review of the literature .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: one of the major goals for scientists is to identify biomarkers for patients , thus ultimately providing them with personalized medicine . personalized medicine provides a patient - specific means by which to target one 's disposition to a disease or condition . recent developments in this area include molecular profiling technologies which may include metabolomic analysis , genomic expression analysis , and proteomic profiling . specifically , within proteomic profiling , there are several different techniques used to isolate and quantify the proteins within a subject 's proteome . the raw data , however , are abundant with technical and structural complexities , making statistical analysis a difficult task . preprocessing ( including normalization , background correction , gel and/or spectral alignment , feature detection , and image registration ) is therefore often required to account for the systematic biases present in the technology and to reduce the noise in the data . feature detection ( i.e. , the detection and quantification of data features , such as peaks in spectral data , or spots in two - dimensional images ) is a particularly important component of low - level analysis , because it works to reduce data size and ease subsequent computations . feature detection falls under the general subject of mathematical morphology ( mm ) , which began in the 1960s and encompasses methods from statistics , machine learning , topology , set theory , and computer science [ 14 ] . mm is the science of analyzing and processing geometric structures ( e.g. , local maxima ) in digital images . examples of common mm functions include opening , closing , thinning , binning , thresholding , and watershed techniques . a key component in mm is the structuring element , that is , the shape used to interrogate the image . in digital images , the structuring element scans the image and alters the pixels in the window content using basic operators . the goal of processing images with mm methods can be to preserve the...

numerous gel - based and nongel - based technologies are used to detect protein changes potentially associated with disease . the raw data , however , are abundant with technical and structural complexities , making statistical analysis a difficult task . low - level analysis issues ( including normalization , background correction , gel and/or spectral alignment , feature detection , and image registration ) are substantial problems that need to be addressed , because any large - level data analyses are contingent on appropriate and statistically sound low - level procedures . feature detection approaches are particularly interesting due to the increased computational speed associated with subsequent calculations . such summary data corresponding to image features provide a significant reduction in overall data size and structure while retaining key information . in this paper , we focus on recent advances in feature detection as a tool for preprocessing proteomic data . this work highlights existing and newly developed feature detection algorithms for proteomic datasets , particularly relating to time - of - flight mass spectrometry , and two - dimensional gel electrophoresis . note , however , that the associated data structures ( i.e. , spectral data , and images containing spots ) used as input for these methods are obtained via all gel - based and nongel - based methods discussed in this manuscript , and thus the discussed methods are likewise applicable .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: drug addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disorder , manifested as an intense desire for the drug , with impairment of the ability to control the urges to take the drug , even at the expense of serious adverse consequences ( cam and farr 2003 ) . these behavioral abnormalities develop gradually with repeated exposure to a drug of abuse , and can persist for months or years after discontinuation of use , suggesting that addiction can be considered a form of drug - induced neural plasticity ( nestler 2004 ) . several compounds can lead to addictive behavior including opioids , psychostimulants , cannabinoids , alcohol and nicotine , and although their initial mechanism of action affects different neurochemical targets , the resulting neural dysregulation involves similar neurochemical and neuroanatomical pathways ( hyman and malenka 2001 ) . the limbic component of basal ganglia pathways , the endogenous opioid system and the brain - pituitary stress system are all essential for the addictive properties of most drugs of abuse , whose interaction with these circuits leads to a common dysregulation of brain motivational and reward pathways ( maldonado et al 2006 ) . the limbic component of the basal ganglia pathway is a common neuronal substrate for the reinforcing properties of drugs of abuse and drives the motivational , emotional and affective information on behavior ( see for review koob 1992 ; di chiara 1999 ; koob et al 2004 ; pierce et al 2006 ) . the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic pathway ( comprising dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area vta innervating the nucleus accumbens hippocampus , amygdala , medial prefrontal cortex and ventral pallidum ) , is a vital factor governing the fl ow of information through the limbic circuit comprising the interconnected nuclei . thus dopamine is considered one of the most important actors in the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse , as suggested by the finding that most of the drugs abused by humans raise dopamine levels in the nac , and blockade of...

this review will discuss the latest knowledge of how the endocannabinoid system might be involved in treating addiction to the most common illicit drugs . experimental models are providing increasing evidence for the pharmacological management of endocannabinoid signaling not only to block the direct reinforcing effects of cannabis , opioids , nicotine and ethanol , but also for preventing relapse to the various drugs of abuse , including opioids , cocaine , nicotine , alcohol and metamphetamine . preclinical and clinical studies suggest that the endocannabinoid system can be manipulated by the cb1 receptor antagonist sr141716a , that might constitute a new generation of compounds for treating addiction across different classes of abused drugs .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: currently the influenza vaccine is recommended in the united states for all individuals over 6 months of age and by the world health organization for high - risk groups . these recommendations have , in part , the aim to reduce the worldwide estimated deaths 250,000500,000 each year caused by the seasonal form of the disease . pregnant women are included in these recommendations because vaccination with the inactivated virus has been shown to decrease the burden of suffering among neonates [ 46 ] and to reduce maternal morbidity of the infection . furthermore , vaccination in pregnancy has been documented as sufficiently safe to be recommended to be given regardless of trimester [ 4 , 8 ] . despite these recommendations in pregnancy , coverage of pregnant women in the united states has been low in the years prior to the 2009 - 2010 influenza season ( 11% to 24% ) . reasons cited for this include not being offered the vaccine , not having the vaccine in the office , and maternal concerns for vaccine safety [ 9 , 10 ] . in the spring of 2009 , a new swine - origin form of the influenza a virus , causing substantial morbidity and mortality , was isolated : h1n1 . as part of the pandemic strategy for this virus , a specific monovalent vaccine for h1n1 was developed and was ready for distribution in the fall of 2009 . among the high - risk groups targeted to receive this vaccine , in addition to the seasonal vaccine , were pregnant women . the rationale for this included the high mortality rates associated with influenza among pregnant women in earlier pandemics and early reports of the severity of h1n1 illness in pregnancy , [ 1416 ] which proved to be true as the 2009 to 2010 influenza season progressed [ 17 , 18 ] . recently , population - based data on vaccine coverage of pregnant women in the united states during the 2009 - 2010 pandemic were published by the centers for disease control ( cdc ) . this report revealed less than full coverage during that season despite a robust public - health response ,...

the purpose of this study was to compare influenza vaccination rates of pregnant women in a public safety - net health system to national coverage rates during the 2009 - 2010 pandemic influenza season . a chart review of a random sample of deliveries was undertaken to determine rates of coverage and predictors of vaccine coverage of women who obtained prenatal care and delivered in our health system . rates were calculated from deliveries from when the vaccine was first available through april 30 , 2010 . coverage rates were 54% for the seasonal influenza vaccine and 51% for the h1n1 vaccine . race / ethnicity , insurance status and language spoken did not predict the receipt of either vaccine . when we included only births which occurred through march 12 , 2010 , as was done in a large population - based study , the rates were 61% and 59% , respectively . our rates are about 10% higher than the rates reported in that study . our comprehensive strategy for promoting vaccine coverage achieved higher vaccination rates in a safety - net health system , which serves groups historically less likely to be vaccinated , than those reported for the pregnant population at large .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the recurrent laryngeal nerve ( rln ) injury during surgeries on thyroid and parathyroid remains the most significant commonly found complication of endocrine surgery in the neck , and it can result in significant morbidity including temporary or permanent paralytic dysphonia and dysphagia . rates of nerve injury published in the literature typically range from 1% to 2% and are significantly higher for re - operation . it has long been accepted that anatomic identification of both the rln and the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve ( ebsln ) is the safest way to reduce nerve injury rates to a minimum and certainly injury rates are lowest when surgery is carried out by experienced endocrine surgeons or thyroid surgeons in specialized centers with high caseloads . nonetheless , identification and preservation of the rln an anatomically intact nerve may still show altered function postoperatively due to multiple factors , such as neural stretch during goiter retraction . the study group comprised of forty - seven patients who underwent thyroid or parathyroid surgery at tulane university medical center from october of 2007 to april of 2009 . the protocol for assessment of the laryngeal nerves included routine preoperative and postoperative laryngoscopy at one to two weeks . stroboscopy and electromyography ( emg ) assessment were not used in this study . a standard mivat / p gasless approach to the thyroid gland was performed under general anesthesia . the surgeon stands at the lesion side , the camera operator on the other side , and an assistant at the patient 's head . all vessel ligation during the procedure was done using the harmonic scalpel ( ethicon , nj ) . additionally , the harmonic scalpel was also used to divide the isthmus in lobectomies , to isolate the gland from the trachea . after routine attempted anatomical observation of the rln , stimulation of the nerve was done with a hand - held nerve stimulator with either the medtronic varistim iii nerve stimulator ( medtronic inc ....

objective . our goal is to study the feasibility of using intraoperative neuromonitoring ( ionm ) in minimally invasive video - assisted thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy ( mivat / p ) with emphasis given to the identification of recurrent laryngeal nerve ( rln ) . methods . consecutive series of forty - seven patients with seventy - seven recurrent laryngeal nerves at risk undergoing both mivat / p and ionm were enrolled in this retrospective , nonrandomized analysis study . all operations were performed by the same surgeon within an academic institution setting . all patients underwent vocal cord evaluation postoperatively . demographics and intraoperative and postoperative complications following surgery were collected . results . out of seventy - seven rlns , there was one permanent unilateral rln injury ( 1.29% ) in a patient with advanced papillary thyroid cancer , managed by cord injection . there was another transient rln paresis that resolved spontaneously ( 1.29% ) . there were no instances of equipment malfunction or interference . conclusions . to our knowledge , this is the first reported mivat / p series from the united states of america with a standardized ionm technique . the technical feasibility of ionm seems acceptable and may serve as a meaningful adjunct to the visual identification of nerves . neuromonitoring during mivat / p is effective in providing identification of laryngeal nerves and enables surgeons to feel more comfortable with mivat / p . comparative series are needed for further evaluation .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: it is a failure to report , respond to , or orient towards stimuli located on the contralesional side . it also occurs when converting not only a visual landscape but also body schema to a visual image2 . spatial neglect is caused by a disturbance of both hemispheres after unilateral cortical lesions3 . spatial neglect is more common after a right hemisphere lesion than after a left hemisphere lesion4 . when the right hemisphere is damaged , spatial neglect leads to visual perception problems such as asymmetrical division of lines or failure to perceive the picture of the neglected side5 . there are diverse methods that can be used to treat spatial neglect such as perception retraining , visual scanning treatment , and cognitive therapy but more effective and diverse interventions for the treatment of spatial neglect are necessary6 . neglect patients show multiple eye movement impairments , including reduced saccade amplitude and difficulty in retaining spatial locations across saccades7 . eye movements are increasingly being used as a tool for the elucidation of relatively complex neuropsychological processes relating to attention , spatial memory , motivation and decision - making8 . oculo - motor exercise modulates many facets of neglect syndrome , and pursuit eye movement especially represents an effective and easily applicable technique for the treatment of neglect patients9 . karnath reported that oculo - motor exercise was effective at improving body orientation in spatial neglect patients10 . functional electrical stimulation ( fes ) has been developed as a method for artificially activating the sensory motor system after central nervous system injury11 . it is useful for activating muscle paralyzed by upper motor neuron injury , and is used to strengthen weakened muscles , to decrease spasticity , and to enhance the range of motion of joints12 . rushton noted that fes activates motor and sensory nerve fibers and promotes cortical reorganization through sensory...

[ purpose ] the purpose of this study was to identify the effects of oculo - motor exercise , functional electrical stimulation ( fes ) , and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation ( pnf ) on the visual perception of spatial neglect patients . [ subjects and methods ] the subjects were randomly allocated to 3 groups : an oculo - motor exercise ( ome ) group , a fes with oculo - motor exercise ( fome ) group , and a pnf with oculo - motor exercise ( pome ) group . the line bisection test ( lbt ) , motor free visual test ( mvpt ) , and catherine bergego scale ( cbs ) were used to measure visual perception . these were performed 5 times per week for 6 weeks . [ results ] the ome group and pome group showed significant improvements according to the lbt and mvpt results , but the fome group showed no significant improvement . according to the cbs , all 3 groups showed significant improvements . the ome and pome groups showed improvement over the fome group in the lbt and mvpt . however , there was no significant difference among the three groups according to the cbs . [ conclusion ] these results indicate that oculo - motor exercise and pnf with oculo - motor exercise had more positive effects than fes with oculo - motor exercise on the visual perception of spatial neglect patients .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: today s world is a world of organizations , and their main operators are the people who invigorate them and prepare the grounds for the realization of their objectives . without people , the concepts of organization and management would become meaningless ( 1 ) . therefore , professional satisfaction on the part of manpower is one of the most important factors in the efficacy of organizations . the issue of professional satisfaction has been studied repeatedly with respect to various organizations since the 1920s , and , according to many experts , it is one of the most challenging organizational concepts and the basis behind the many management policies adopted to improve organizational effectiveness ( 2 ) . health care organizations and treatment centers are responsible for maintaining the health of all citizens in a society , and nurses have a key role . their success in fulfilling this role depends on the measures taken by competent managers who recognize the prominent factors involved in the activities of nurses and seek to create favorable work conditions in order to enhance their professional satisfaction ( 1 ) . previous studies have shown that nurses should demonstrate a passion for their work and have the necessary proficiency and expertise to achieve the highest level of efficiency ( 2 ) . it could be argued that any person would provide better services if he or she were motivated and enthusiastic about the work . despite the great significance of the professional satisfaction of nurses due to its considerable impact on them , their patients , their organizations , and the very profession of nursing ( 3 ) , most previous studies have reported the satisfaction level to be low among nurses ( 4 ) . the results from the study conducted by lou et al . indicated that only half of the nurses in the study were moderately or highly satisfied with their work ( 5 ) . another study was conducted to compare the level of professional satisfaction among different groups of people in korea , and it was found that...

introductionthe professional satisfaction of staff is one of the most challenging organizational concepts that can enhance the efficiency level of organizations . in a similar vein , the professional satisfaction of nurses is of considerable importance , in that , professional dissatisfaction among nurses could result in emotional detachment , depression , anger , evasion from work , and inefficacy and would negatively impact the organization s work rate . the aim of this study was to understand iranian nurses experiences of the concept of professional satisfaction.methodsthis was a qualitative study conducted with a targeted sampling of 10 nurses ( 4 men and 6 women ) in 2015 . the data were collected through conducting in - depth interviews , and textual data were analyzed subsequently using the qualitative content analysis ( qca ) method.resultsthe findings of this study pointed to fair conduct , which was comprised of three sub - categories , i.e. , expectation of fairness in social - professional settings , expectation of fairness in receiving professional benefits , and expectation of fairness in the area of professional interactions.conclusionsthere are various ups and downs in nursing due to the challenging nature of the profession , from the initial education at the university until retirement . according to the findings of this study , a lack of fairness in social - professional settings , a lack of fairness in receiving professional benefits , and a lack of fairness in the area of professional interactions were among the factors that have great impacts on the degree of professional dissatisfaction among nurses .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: crc cases were selected from patients who underwent surgical treatment at eulji university hospital from january 2000 to june 2005 . all cases were histologically confirmed to be primary colorectal adenocarcinoma and hematoxylin and eosin slides were re - evaluated by two independent pathologists . the tumor grade of the adenocarcinoma was classified into low grade ( 50% of tumor glands ) and high grade ( < 50% of tumor glands ) . for signet ring cell carcinoma and mucinous adenocarcinoma , tumor budding was defined as a single or group of less than five detached tumor cells and classified into two grades . tumor recurrence was designated as tumor occurring at the anastomosing site , in the regional lymph nodes , and the pelvic cavity diagnosed by radiology , colonoscopy , exploratory surgical , and/or histological examination . in addition , metastasis was defined as the presence of tumor cells outside the area of resection , including the liver , pancreas , lung , and other organs . all cases of crc tissue with accompanying normal mucosal tissue were fixed in 10% buffered formalin for 24 hours and embedded in paraffin . tissue sections of 34 m thickness were cut and mounted on probeon slides ( fisher scientific , pittsburgh , pa , usa ) . sections that contained both tumor and adjacent uninvolved colonic mucosa were selected for immunohistochemistry ( ihc ) in most cases . in a few cases , sections were trimmed in order to decrease the surface area for an even distribution of antibodies , so that only the tumor portion was included in the ihc evaluation . paraffin embedded tissue sections were deparaffinized and rehydrated through a series of xylene and alcohol . slides were then treated with 10 mm / l sodium citrate buffer ( ph 6.1 ) for 15 minutes and autoclaved at 120c for antigen retrieval . all slide sections for ihc were incubated in 3% h2o2 for 10 minutes to inactivate endogenous peroxidase , washed with 10 mm / l phosphate buffered saline buffer ( ph 7.4 ) , and then incubated with normal bovine...

backgroundthymosin 4 is a multi - functional hormone - like polypeptide , being involved in cell migration , angiogenesis , and tumor metastasis . this study was undertaken to clarify the clinicopathologic implications of thymosin 4 expression in human colorectal cancers ( crcs).methodswe investigated tissue sections from 143 patients with crc by immunohistochemistry . in addition , we evaluated the expression patterns and the clinico - pathological significance of thymosin 4 expression in association with hypoxia inducible factor-1 ( hif-1 ) expression in the crc series.resultshigh expression of thymosin 4 was significantly correlated with lymphovascular invasion , invasion depth , regional lymph node metastasis , distant metastasis , and tnm stage . patients with high expression of thymosin 4 showed poor recurrence - free survival ( p = .001 ) and poor overall survival ( p = .005 ) on multivariate analysis . we also found that thymosin 4 and hif-1 were overexpressed and that thymosin 4 expression increased in parallel with hif-1 expression in crc.conclusionsa high expression level of thymosin 4 indicates poor clinical outcomes and may be a useful prognostic factor in crc . thymosin 4 is functionally related with hif-1 and may be a potentially valuable biomarker and possible therapeutic target for crc .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the caudate lobe is located anterior to the inferior vena cava ( ivc ) and may envelop this structure circumferentially . it extends to the hilum of the liver just posterior to the bifurcation of the portal vein . cephalad , the caudate lobe lies posterior to the confluence of the left and middle veins as they enter the ivc on the left ( figure 1 ) . the caudate lobe is generally divided into three regions : the left spiegel lobe , the process portion , and the paracaval portion . the anatomy of the paracaval portion includes the liver parenchyma ventral to the hepatic ivc and the area between the spiegel lobe and the right lobe adjacent to the middle hepatic vein ventrally.1 this portion was classified by couinaud as segment ix ( 2 ) . our aim in this study is to describe the standard technique for a caudate lobectomy procedure involving an anterior hepatic transection ( aht ) via a review of the literature . a literature search was conducted using ovid medline for the terms caudate lobectomy and aht covering 1992 to 2007 . resection of the caudate lobe involves three major steps : controlling the inflow caudate blood supply from the left portal vein and the left hepatic artery at the base of the umbilical fissure , as well as controlling other inflow by lowering the hilar plate and dividing any vessels encountered ; dissection of the retrohepatic veins ; and in the case of an isolated caudate resection , it is necessary to divide the liver parenchyma between the base of segment iv and the left side of segment vii to allow removal of the lobe . when an aht of the caudate lobe is used , an anatomic resection of segment i or / and segment ix ( an isolated or complete resection of the caudate lobe ) may be performed . some authors have split the liver anteriorly through the glissonian plane , separating the right and left liver , and approaching the caudate lobe by dividing the liver along the right margin of segment iv . the combination of these techniques allows for the preservation of middle hepatic...

resection of the caudate lobe ( segment i- dorsal sector , segment ix- right paracaval region , or both ) is often technically difficult due to the lobe s location deep in the hepatic parenchyma and because it is adjacent to the major hepatic vessels ( e.g. , the left and middle hepatic veins).a literature search was conducted using ovid medline for the terms caudate lobectomy and anterior hepatic transection ( aht ) covering 1992 to 2007.aht was used in 110 caudate lobectomies that are discussed in this review . isolated caudate lobectomy was performed on 28 ( 25.4% ) patients , with 11 case ( 11% ) associated with hepatectomy , while 1 ( 0.9% ) was associated with anterior segmentectomy . complete caudate lobectomy was performed on 82 ( 74.5% ) patients . hepatocellular carcinoma was observed in 106 ( 96.3% ) patients , while 1 ( 0.9% ) had hemangioma and 3 ( 2.7% ) had metastatic caudate tumors . aht was used in 108 ( 98.1% ) caudate resections , while aht associated with a right - sided approach was performed in 2 ( 1.8% ) cases . aht is recommended for tumors located in the paracaval portion of the caudate lobe ( segment ix ) . aht is usually a safe and potentially curative surgical option .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: there are some commonly held beliefs that aging is associated with increased dependency , loss of self - control , incapacity , ailment , social isolation , and disengagement from life.1 misconceptions about older people and aging are called ageism , gerontophobia , or the elderly mystique.2 according to butler s definition of ageism , it has been defined as a process of systematic stereotyping and discrimination against people because they are old , just as racism and sexism accomplish this for color and gender.3 the ageism concept , which appears at the individual , institutional , and societal levels,4 is a composite of three components , including cognitive ( stereotypes ) , affective ( prejudice ) , and behavioral ( discrimination ) components.5 there are several cultural myths that tend to encourage ageism . the first myth is chronology , which considers people elderly by virtue of their age . the second myth is that of an inflexible personality , which means that as people age , they become more intolerant and conservative . third is the myth of misery , which suggests that elderly people are unhappy just because they are older . fourth , there is the myth of rejection and isolation , which holds that elderly people are rejected from society . fifth is the myth of dependence and unproductiveness , which declares that older adults are not productive members of society because they are not usually engaged in paid employment . sixth is the myth of physical ill health , which suggests that illness is part of the aging process and that old age is automatically linked to deterioration . last is the myth of mental deterioration , which suggests that all older people suffer from mental health problems.6 unfortunately , these myths are reinforced by mass media and gerontological studies , wherein elderly people are generally depicted in a negative light . for example , they are portrayed as immobile ; lacking in sex drive ; having poor eyesight and hearing ; being unable to take care of themselves ; being...

backgroundthere are several negative stereotypes about older adults that have negatively influenced people s attitude about aging . the present study compared emotional well - being between older adults and adolescents.methodsdata for this study came from 1,403 community - dwelling elderly persons and 1,190 secondary school students and were obtained from two national cross - sectional surveys . emotional well - being was measured using the world health organization - five well - being index . data analysis was conducted using a multivariate analysis of covariance with spss software version 20 ( ibm corporation , armonk , ny , usa).resultselderly people significantly scored higher levels of emotional well - being ( mean , 62.3 ; standard deviation , 22.55 ) than younger people ( mean , 57.9 ; standard deviation , 18.46 ; t , 5.32 ; p0.001 ) . the findings from the multivariate analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference between older adults and younger people in emotional well - being [ f(3 , 2587)=120.21 ; p0.001 ; 2=0.122 ] after controlling for sex.conclusioncontrary to negative stereotypes about aging , our findings show a higher level of emotional well - being among older adults compared with younger people .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: we selected patients who were diagnosed with impending central retinal vein occlusion from january 2003 to march 2007 in wonju christian hospital , and we retrospectively studied their medical records . by gass ' definition , impending central retinal vein occlusion has mild or no loss of vision with venodilation and retinal dot hemorrhages under fundus examination . in all patients , slitlamp examination , intraocular pressure , gonioscopy , refraction , visual field , funduscopy , and fluorescein angiography were performed as part of a physical examination . to determine any underlying systemic disease , blood test , neurologic examination including brain computed tomography scan , carotid artery ultrasonography in ten patients with impending central retinal vein occlusion , eight were male ( 80% ) and two were female ( 20% ) . the age distribution was between 18 and 48 years , with impending central retinal vein occlusion usually affecting a relatively young age group averaging 31.09.1 years of age . the ocular pressures in all subjects were found to be normal . on fundus examination , mild venous dilation and retinal hemorrhage were observed . the initial vision for the affected eyes was logmar 0.30 , and the final vision was logmar 0.04 . one case had progressed to central retinal vein occlusion , and after treatment with vitrectomy , radial optic neurotomy and intravitreal injection of triamcinolone , the patient 's vision improved . the other six patients had no specific systemic disease and no abnormalities on neurologic examination . an 18-year - old male patient with no specific history was admitted due to complaints of amaurosis fugax in his left eye . on fundus examination , venous tortuosity and dilation in the central retinal vein were found . the logmar vision after one month was improved to 0.0 , and venous tortuosity and congestion in the central retinal vein disappeared completely ( fig 1 ) . a 31-year - old male patient with complaints of mild vision loss in his left eye visited the...

purposeimpending central retinal vein occlusion is associated with mild or no loss of vision ; however , its progress and vision prognosis have not been clearly defined until now . therefore , we studied the progress and prognoses in patients with impending central retinal vein occlusion.methodsfor this study , we selected ten subjects who had been diagnosed with impending central retinal vein occlusion , and we retrospectively reviewed their progress and prognoses.resultsthe average age of the subjects was 31.0 years ( 18 to 48 years ) . eight patients were male and two were female . the average observational period was 5.5 months . six out of ten subjects were found to have no underlying systemic disease , four subjects had underlying disease . all ten patients were affected unilaterally . when initially tested , the affected eyes showed an average vision of logmar 0.30 . the final vision test revealed an average of logmar 0.04 , which indicates good progress and prognosis . in one patient , retinal hemorrhage and macular edema progressively worsened after the diagnosis , and the patient was treated with radial optic neurotomy.conclusionsthe cases of impending central retinal vein occlusion that we observed seemed to primarily affect young patients with generally good prognoses . however , in some cases , the degrees of obstruction and hemorrhage increased as time progressed . this suggests that impending central retinal vein occlusion could develop into the prodromal phase of an acute attack .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: radiofrequency ( rf ) catheter ablation has proven efficacy for treating many types of supraventricular arrhythmias and has become an increasingly important clinical tool for treating atrial fibrillation ( af).1 electrical isolation of the pulmonary veins ( pvs ) from the left atrium is the cornerstone for most af ablation procedures and is considered the best interventional method to treat af in the paroxysmal af population.2 efforts to improve the efficacy and safety of rf ablation ( rfa ) led to the development of the open irrigation 6-hole catheter , which was the first catheter approved for ablation of af in 2009.3,4 the catheter design has now been improved with 56 irrigation holes to enhance cooling and reduce irrigation flow rate.5 the new porous tip provides uniform cooling over the entire tip rather than only localized cooling at the distal end , allowing more efficient heat dissipation and rf delivery . park et al . reported on better procedural efficiency to reach complete pulmonary vein isolation ( pvi ) , as compared to the 6-hole catheter , with a significant reduction in irrigation volume administered ( approximately 500 ml less).5 until now , safety data for the new catheter have largely been limited to unmonitored , single - center experiences.58 the primary objective of this paper is to report real world acute safety data from 2 prospective us observational registry studies using the porous tip catheter for the treatment of drug refractory , recurrent , symptomatic paroxysmal af . it is believed that these registry results represent a wider range of techniques , operator experience , and patient profiles than past studies , and as such will be generalizable to a broader range of clinical practice . a secondary objective of this paper is to report on any differences in acute safety between patients age 65 and older and younger patients , as af prevalence increases with age and adults age 65 years and older comprise an estimated 82% of all af patients in the united states.9 this analysis...

acute safety from 2 af ablation registriesintroductionthis report presents safety data on the use of a new open - irrigation radiofrequency ablation ( rfa ) catheter with a 56-hole porous tip in 742 patients enrolled in 2 us prospective , multicenter observational registry studies representing real - world use of the catheter.methodsthis analysis is comprised of patients who underwent rfa of drug - refractory recurrent symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation ( af ) . acute adverse events ( aes ) were collected and categorized by seriousness , timing , and relatedness , with 7 days of follow - up data in one study and at least 120 days of data from a 1-year follow - up in the other . acute serious adverse events ( saes ) that were identified as potentially related to the device and/or procedure were adjudicated by an independent safety committee.resultsa total of 30 patients ( 4.0% ) in the combined studies experienced an acute sae related to the device and/or procedure , which was similar in the subset of patients age 65 and over ( 4.2% ) . these saes included 1.2% cardiac tamponade / perforation , 0.7% pericarditis , 0.5% pulmonary events , and 0.8% vascular access complications . no myocardial infarction , stroke , transient ischemic attack , or atrioesophageal fistulas within 7 days postprocedure were reported . in the study with extended follow - up , 1 pulmonary vein stenosis and 1 esophageal injury were seen beyond 7 days postprocedure ( 0.2% each ) . there were no device or procedure related deaths.conclusionresults from 2 large observational studies demonstrated that a new porous tip rfa catheter was safe for the treatment of drug refractory , recurrent , symptomatic paroxysmal af , including treatment of older patients ( 65 years ) .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: solar energy is considered as one of the most important alternative energy sources and solar cell has been actively studied as promising solar energy conversion device . for its practical use , however , there are numbers of technical barriers to be overcome such as high cost and low - conversion efficiency . accordingly , numerous researches have been performed on organic solar cells for low - cost manufacturing and antireflection surface of the solar cells to improve the energy absorption efficiency [ 2 - 14 ] . the formation of antireflection surfaces reduces the reflection of incident light and increases its transmission into solar cells . a thin film layer on the surface can diminish the reflection of the incident light by the destructive interference between the reflected lights from the top and bottom surfaces of the coated layer when the film thickness is about a quarter wavelength of incident light . to induce this effect for a range of different wavelengths , multiple layers of thin films however , inevitable thermal mismatch between each thin film layer often causes adhesion and stability problems in the thin film type antireflection surfaces . to avoid these stability problems , antireflective nano structures with a period smaller than the wavelength of light reflection occurs when the light propagate through the interface of two materials of different refractive indices due to their discontinuous change . at the interface of the nano - structured material and the air , an effective refractive index at any cross - section orthogonal to the direction of incident light is determined by the areal fraction of the structural material and the air , and the tapered sas can make the continuous and monotonous change of the effective refractive index from air to solid surface . therefore , the array of tapered nano structures reduces the reflection of incoming light for a wide range of wavelengths [ 3 - 6 ] . previous works to make the etch mask relied on costly and complicated nano patterning techniques...

we have demonstrated lithography - free , simple , and large area fabrication method for subwavelength antireflection structures ( sas ) to achieve low reflectance of silicon ( si ) surface . thin film of pt / pd alloy on a si substrate is melted and agglomerated into hemispheric nanodots by thermal dewetting process , and the array of the nanodots is used as etch mask for reactive ion etching ( rie ) to form sas on the si surface . two critical parameters , the temperature of thermal dewetting processes and the duration of rie , have been experimentally studied to achieve very low reflectance from sas . all the sas have well - tapered shapes that the refractive index may be changed continuously and monotonously in the direction of incident light . in the wavelength range from 350 to 1800 nm , the measured reflectance of the fabricated sas averages out to 5% . especially in the wavelength range from 550 to 650 nm , which falls within visible light , the measured reflectance is under 0.01% .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: brown tumors ( bts ) , also called as osteoclastomas , are rare nonneoplastic lesions that arise in the setting of hyperparathyroidism319 ) . hyperparathyroidism is overactivity of the parathyroid glands resulting in excess production of parathyroid hormone ( pth ) . excessive pth secretion may be due to problems in the parathyroid glands such as adenomas , hyperplasia or carcinoma . however , it may also occur in response to low calcium levels in such conditions as vitamin d deficiency or chronic renal disease that is known as secondary hyperparathyroidism319 ) . bts can arise as solitary or multiple lesions of any bone , more common in extremities , clavicle , ribs and pelvis . , we report a rare thoracic bt case that occured in the setting of primary hyperthyroidism . 50-year - old man was admitted to our neurosurgery department with the chief complaint of difficulty in standing and walking due to leg weakness for nearly 2 days . thoracic magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) and computerized tomography ( ct ) revealed expansile mass lesion that was compressing the spinal cord at t9 level . homogenously enhancing mass lesion was found to originate from the anterior portion of the spinous process and both laminas of t9 vertebra ( fig . routine blood tests were uneventful except a calcium value of 14.3 mg / dl ( 8.4 - 10.2 ) . as blood parathormone ( pth ) test also revealed a very high value of 547.45 pg / ml ( 15 - 68.3 ) , endocrinology consultation was ordered to rule out primary hyperparathyroidism . however , any cystic or solid pathologic lesion compatible with adenoma were not seen on the parathyroid regions . parathyroid scintigraphy with tc-99 m mibi revealed focal activity retention on the inferior portion of the right thyroid lobe . endocrinology department insisted for the urgent parathyroidectomy in order to minimize hypercalcemia - related complications . total thyroidectomy was also performed since frozen examination of a suspected thyroid nodule was reported as micropapillary carcinoma . the...

brown tumors also called as osteoclastomas , are rare nonneoplastic lesions that arise in the setting of primary or secondary hyperparathyroidism . parathyroid adenomas or hyperplasia constitute the major brown tumor source in primary hyperparathyroidism while chronic renal failure is the leading cause in secondary hyperparathyroidism . most of the patients with the diagnosis of primary hyperparathyroidism present with kidney stones or isolated hypercalcemia . however , nearly one third of patients are asymptomatic and hypercalcemia is found incidentally . skeletal involvement such as generalized osteopenia , bone resorption , bone cysts and brown tumors are seen on the late phase of hyperparathyroidism . the symptoms include axial pain , radiculopathy , myelopathy and myeloradiculopathy according to their locations . plasmocytoma , lymphoma , giant cell tumors and metastates should be ruled out in the differential diagnosis of brown tumors . treatment of brown tumors involve both the management of hyperparathyroidism and neural decompression . the authors report a very rare spinal brown tumor case , arisen as the initial manifestation of primary hyperparathyroidism that leads to acute paraparesis .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: interestingly , the trajectory of a proton in the lumen of the so - called m2 channel of the influenza a virus is an example from biology . the m2 integral membrane protein is a tetramer assembled from four identical subunits , each with 97 residues . as a prerequisite for release of genetic material to the cytoplasm , the interior of a viral particle must become acidified as a means to detect its own entrance in the endosome . the m2 protein channel fulfills this acidification function by conducting protons through its membrane pore . the gating of this essential proton transport step in the infection cycle is controlled by ph . among the pore - lining residues , his37 and trp41 were identified as the most important residues in the proton transfer through the m2 channel . the proton selective conductance in m2 is achieved by the presence of the his37 cluster : substitution of his37 with residues such as gly or ala induces a nonselective channel , indicating a mechanistic role of his37 in proton relay . a transfer cycle was proposed where a tautomerization of the his37 side chain occurs between the acceptance of a proton from the viral exterior and the release of a proton to the viral interior , to reestablish in full the original configuration for the next cycle . on replacing the imidazole ring of the his37 side chain with a 4-thiazolyl group , which has the n1 as the only proton acceptor with pka 2.5 , this mutant shows inward proton flux resembling the wild type , thus demonstrating that tautomerization is not necessarily required for proton transport . however , rotation of the imidazole ring during proton translocation can not be ruled out . besides the functional role in proton selectivity , his37 is associated with channel activation : binding of a third proton to the his37 cluster under acidic conditions triggers a detectable proton flux , with a peak conductance rate of 10 protons per second . substitution of trp41 with smaller residues , like gly...

the activity of the m2 proton channel of the influenza a virus is controlled by ph . the tautomeric state and conformation of his37 , a key residue in the m2 transmembrane four - helix bundle , controls the gating of the channel . previously , we compared the energetics and dynamics of two alternative conformations of the doubly protonated state at neutral ph , namely , a 4-fold symmetric histidine - box and a 2-fold symmetric dimer - of - dimers , and proposed a multiconfiguration model for this charge state . here , we elaborate this model by further studying configurations of the his37 tetrad in the triply protonated state and its subsequent deprotonation via quantum mechanics / molecular mechanics ( qm / mm ) molecular dynamics ( md ) simulations , starting with the aforementioned configurations , to gain information about proton release in a viral membrane environment . interestingly , the two configurations converge under acidic ph conditions . protons can be transferred from one charged his37 to a neighboring water cluster at the c - terminal side of the channel when the trp41 gate is open transiently . with limited backbone expansion , the free energy barrier for proton release to the viral interior at low ph is 6.5 kcal / mol in both models , which is much lower than at either neutral ph or for an isolated his37 cluster without a membrane environment . our calculations also suggest that the m2 protein would seem to exclude the entrance of anions into the central channel through a special mechanism , due to the latter s potential inhibitory effect on proton conduction .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: patent foramen ovale , which is necessary in fetal circulation , is a potential route for emboli arising from the venous system to enter the systemic arterial circulation , resulting in paradoxical air embolism syndrome . we report a case of paradoxical air embolism as a complication of percutaneous approach for treatment of calyceal diverticular stone . a 37-yr - old man in good health was referred to us for right calyceal diverticulum with milk of calcium . after induction of general anesthesia , the patient was placed in the lithotomy position . a 6-fr ureteral catheter with ureteropelvic junction occlusion balloon was passed through the right ureter , and the patient was then turned to prone position . after confirming the position of the ureteral catheter under fluoroscopy , the pyelogram was performed by injecting contrast and a small volume of air into the right pelvocalyceal system to locate the diverticulum ( fig . 1 ) . direct puncture of the calyceal diverticulum was attempted several times without success . the total volume of air used during the procedure was about 25 ml . the patient remained cardiovascularly stable throughout the procedure . six hours after the surgical procedure , the patient complained of weakness of his right leg . eight hours after this episode , he had sudden tonic seizure and became unconscious ; he was transferred to the intensive care unit and treated , accordingly . the patient underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain including diffusion - weighted imaging , which was negative . twenty - four hours after the procedure , he recovered fully without any neurological deficit and regained consciousness . neurologic evaluation showed that cryptogenic arterial air embolism was the mostly likely cause of the seizure . cardiac workup with transthoracic echocardiogram failed to reveal a cardiac source of emboli . however , transesophageal echocardiography with provocation testing showed air bubbles in the left atrium revealing that the patient had right - to - left...

air embolism is a rare complication of percutaneous nephrolithotomy . patent foramen ovale , which is necessary in fetal circulation , is a potential route for emboli arising from the venous system to enter the systemic arterial circulation , resulting in paradoxical air embolism syndrome . a case of paradoxical air embolism during percutaneous nephrolithotomy is presented . to our knowledge , this is the first report of paradoxical air embolism associated with patent foramen ovale during percutaneous nephrolithotomy .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: results of the investigation on artificial radionuclides in the environmental objects provide for the assessment of possible affects of radiation exposure on human health . at the same time investigation of radionuclide distribution in the environment hence it is necessary to consider the basic sources of radioactive pollution , in particular in the baltic sea waters , as well as further behaviour of radionuclides under the influence of the external factors . artificial radionuclides have penetrated into the baltic sea for the first time from the global fallouts as a result of the nuclear and thermonuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere . during a long period of time this sea was contaminated by the north sea waters where radioactive waste was discharged from various nuclear objects . after the accident in the chernobyl power plant ( chpp ) in 1986 , an average value of va of cs has increased by an order of magnitude in the baltic sea compared to the value which was formed by global fallout ( 12 bq / m ) . however , an increase of va of cs was observed in the coastal waters during some years after chpp accident . it is natural that radioactive fallout on the surface waters of the baltic sea was inhomogeneous . the biggest amount of cs occurred in the northern part of the baltic sea and in the gulf of bothnia . therefore , the levelling process of va of cs in the surface waters took place . it means that this radionuclide was transferred from more polluted to less polluted areas , and increased there va of cs . in particular , the increased values of cs va in the coastal waters of the baltic sea in lithuania were observed up to 1989 and 1990 , when its average values were 113 and 117 bq / m accordingly . since 1991 a gradual decrease in average values of va of cs was observed . however , frequent variations in va values took place because of the secondary effects and also after the changes in the hydro meteorological situation . the variations of va values of artificial radionuclides after the change of...

the article presents the measurement results of the volumetric activity ( va ) of artificial radionuclides 90sr and 137cs in the coastal waters of the baltic sea near the curonian peninsula in 20052009 . the annual average values for this period of time were 12 bq / m3 ( 90sr ) and 40 bq / m3 ( 137cs ) . considerable variations in the va of the radionuclide in individual measurements compared to the average results were observed . the extreme values were 6 and 16 bq / m3 for 90sr and for 137cs27 and 75 bq / m3 . it is proposed to allow such variations under the influence of a variety of external factors such as hydro meteorological situations , inflowing rivers and bays , storm activity and etc . besides , a possibility of penetration of radionuclides into the sea waters from the additional radioactive sources is not excluded .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the vascular lesions of the skin are divided into congenital and acquired lesions . acquired and congenital vascular lesions are described as follows : the most significant acquired vascular lesions of infancy are hemangiomas . the lesions are composed of proliferating blood vessels and , although benign , have a potentially destructive character . after infancy , acquired vascular lesions are associated with aging ( senile angiomas ) , trauma ( arteriovenous fistulas ) , systemic conditions ( spider angioma ) , and malignancy ( kaposi 's sarcoma ) . vascular malformations can be classified based on their type of blood flow into slow - flow lesions ( capillary , venous , and lymphatic ) , high - flow lesions ( arterial ) , and lesions with a combined slow and fast blood flow . the lesions are composed of proliferating blood vessels and , although benign , have a potentially destructive character . after infancy , acquired vascular lesions are associated with aging ( senile angiomas ) , trauma ( arteriovenous fistulas ) , systemic conditions ( spider angioma ) , and malignancy ( kaposi 's sarcoma ) . vascular malformations can be classified based on their type of blood flow into slow - flow lesions ( capillary , venous , and lymphatic ) , high - flow lesions ( arterial ) , and lesions with a combined slow and fast blood flow . a 42-year - old female patient came to the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery as an outpatient with a chief complaint of swelling in the left side of the lower lip . the patient gives a history of small negligible swelling present since 5 years and gradually increased in size due to repeated trauma during mastication with a short span of bleeding when exposed to trauma and subsequent arrest of bleeding by itself . her blood report was within normal limits . local examination revealed a single , oval , well - defined , nonpulsating , soft and compressible swelling roughly measuring 1.6 1.5 0.8 cm [ figure 1 ] involving buccal mucosa in the left side of the lower lip . on...

vascular anomalies constitute some of the most difficult diagnostic and therapeutic enigmas in the head and neck region . it is of paramount importance that a modern classification system is established to differentiate vascular lesions from vascular malformations . vascular malformations are usually congenital and venous anomalies usually expand because of hormonal changes such as puberty , pregnancy , or secondary to trauma . here , we report a case which was diagnosed as low flow vascular malformation of buccal mucosa involving the lower lip and subsequently treated with 3% sodium tetra decyl sulfate . this paper provides overall understanding regarding the presentation and management of small vascular lesions in the orofacial region . percutaneous sodium tetradecyl sulfate when used either alone or as adjunct to surgery is a safe , effective , and inexpensive agent in the treatment of venous malformations . however , proper case selection , evaluation , and careful planning are necessary to reduce the unwarranted risks and complications .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: trichomycosis is a rare condition and few cases are reported in the literature , its name is wrong because it is not a fungal infection but is a superficial bacterial infection , so it should be called trichobacteriosis . due to the fact that the condition is asymptomatic and causes practically no discomfort , patients generally do not seek medical attention . however , when a careful , deliberate search is performed in the clinical setting , it tends to appear more frequently . our principal objective is to present a series of cases , their clinical and microbiological aspects and emphasize that this clinical entity in axillar and genital hairs maybe is underestimated . all patients included had diagnosis of clinical trichomycosis and were confirmed microbiologically . a clinical history , an examination under wood 's light and microbiological tests was performed on each patient . in all cases , there took hair of the affected region , by means of court with scissors and the sample was divided in two parts for its study , for examination and culture . the samples were examined microscopically with koh 20% and cotton blue preparations , and cultured in brain - heart infusion agar , and chocolate - blood agar . positive cultures were gram - stained to identify coryneform - bacteria forms , and isolated cultures were subsequently identified by biochemical testing using the microscan - system . the main demographic characteristics and microbiological findings of the study are shown in table 1 . it is important to point out that 32 out of the 56 patients ( 57.1% ) sought medical attention because they felt a change in the texture of the affected hair , and the rest of the patients were diagnosed during careful , deliberate search by visual inspection and examination under wood 's light [ figures 13 ] . eighteen of the fifty - six patients ( 32.2% ) related their condition to athletic activities and to the use of clothing made of lycra . of the 56 cultures that were obtained , only 18 were identified by the...

background : trichomycosis is asymptomatic bacterial infection of the axillary hairs caused by corynebacterium sp.objective:to bring a series of cases of trichomycosis , its clinical and microbiological experience.materials and methods : this report consists in a linear and observational retrospective study of 15 years of cases of trichomycosis confirmed clinically and microbiologically.results:fifty six confirmed cases of trichomycosis were included in this report . the majority were men 53/56 ( 94.6% ) , mean age was 32.5 years . the most commonly affected area was the axilla ( 92% ) , trichomycosis flava was the principal variant 55/56 ( 98.2% ) and signs and symptoms associated were hyperhidrosis ( 87.5% ) , hairs texture change ( 57.1% ) and odor ( 35.7% ) . bacterial concretions were observed in all cases , and the predominant causative agent in 89.3% of all cases was corynebacterium sp . thirty patients were included in therapeutic portion of the study , and 28 ( 93.3% ) of them experienced a clinical and microbiological cure.conclusion:trichomycosis is asymptomatic , superficial infection , which primarily affects axillary hairs .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: anthocyanins , as ubiquitous constituents of berries and coloured vegetables , are widespread in the plant dominion . much attention has been paid in recent years to their radicals scavenging activity in vitro and in vivo and possible health benefits . the main anthocyanins being analysed in elderberries are various glucosylated cyanidins ( figure 1 ) . besides glucose , sambubiose is the typical sugar conjugate in elderberries [ 1 , 2 ] . rate and extent of absorption , metabolisation , and excretion of elderberry anthocyanins are to date not fully understood . first of all , controversially discussed hitherto is whether also conjugated glucuronides of cyanidin are formed and excreted in vivo . time - course plots ( mean sd ) of total anthocyanins ( glucosides + glucuronides ) and anthocyanin glucuronides in human urine following ingestion of 150 ml of elderberry juice . individual amounts excreted of total anthocyanins ( glucosides + glucuronides ) and anthocyanin glucuronides within 5 hours following ingestion of 150 ml of elderberry juice . urinary excretion of anthocyanins as unchanged glucosides and glucuronides after elderberry juice consumption ( means sd ) . calculated as the ratio of amounts excreted ( within 5 h ) to amounts / doses ingested . the study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the giessen university , germany . after an overnight fasting , seven healthy nonsmoking volunteers ( 6 female and 1 male with a mean bmi of 21.5 ) consumed a bolus quantity of 150 ml of concentrated elderberry juice ( containing 3.57 g of total anthocyanins ) together with rolls and cheese . the elderberry juice concentrate was obtained from wild ( heidelberg , germany ) . urine samples were collected initially and in hourly intervals over a period of 5 hours . hplc - dad analyses of urinary samples ( 05 hours after ingestion ) were performed before and after hydrolysis of glucuronide conjugates with -glucuronidase [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]...

in a pilot study with 6 females and 1 male , the metabolism of various cyanidin glucosides after oral administration of elderberry juice was investigated . the anthocyanin metabolites were detected in urinary excretion . after ingestion of a bolus quantity of 3.57 g total anthocyanins in a 150 ml elderberry juice concentrate , 0.053% of the administered dose was excreted in urine as glucosidically bound cyanidins within the first 5 hours . only 0.003% of the ingested anthocyanin glucosides was excreted as cyanidin glucuronide , suggesting that this conversion step might be of minor importance in urinary excretion .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the trunk midline is the reference for orientation of the body in space and is the point of comparison for the synthesis of all tactile , kinesthetic , and pressure - related information from the two sides of the body1 . thus , the trunk midline can be considered the axis of symmetry around which the body organizes motor behavior2 . the corpus callosum is the principal interhemispheric commissure , and its functions include the exchange of information between the two central hemispheres and integration of the inputs that reach one or both of them3 . all somatosensory callosal connections appear to provide a common anatomical substrate : this phenomenon is known as midline fusion . the body regions that are represented in the callosally connected zones of the first somatosensory area ( si ) were identified as the midline of the somatosensory space4 . the subjective vertical midline of the body is the result of multisensory integration of vestibular , proprioceptive , visual , and tactile afferences5 , 6 . meilinger and colleagues hypothesized that every alteration of these afferences produces an abnormal representation of the body system , which receives incoherent information , and answers in a reflex and primitive manner7 . the integration of spatial information that is perceived8 , 9 from different viewpoints is a common yet largely unexamined cognitive ability10 , 11 . locomotion is supported by additional content , which is closely related to behaviors , such as modulation of the gait cycle , from vision control12,13,14 . as logan and colleagues have pointed out , frequency response functions between visual scene motion ( input ) and trunk kinematics ( output ) change very little or not at all with gains in trunk orientation in the standing posture and under walking conditions15 , 16 . there is evidence of a correlation between heading and the rate at which strategic modifications in trunk yaw decrease , because adaptive recalibration of locomotor trajectory ...

[ purpose ] recently , there has been growing interest in the somatosensory system , but little data exist on the interaction between dynamic postural control and the somatosensory system . the purpose of this study was to determine whether a training program , based on tactile and proprioceptive sensory stimulation of the trunk with the use of perceptual surfaces , improved the estimation of walking distance by healthy subjects , the ability to walk toward a memorized distance without vision , and whether it increases upright gait stability . [ subjects and methods ] ten healthy subjects with a mean age of 31.9 2.5 years were enrolled and participated in 10 daily sessions of perceptive training using perceptual surfaces , for 45 minutes each session . an experimental indoor test measured the subjects ability to perceive walking distances to a memorized target in an indoor environment . [ results ] after treatment , the distances that were traversed were closer to the target than before treatment . trunk acceleration did not differ significantly between pre- and post - training and did not increase significantly after training . [ conclusion ] treatment with perceptual surfaces stimulating the trunk midline improves the estimation of walking distance and modifies proprioceptive gait patterns , allowing various corrective strategies to be implemented during ambulation .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the study was carried out between 2005 and 2007 at the all india institute of medical sciences ( aiims ) , new delhi . amphotericin b deoxycholate ( fungizone ) was purchased from ambalal sarabhai enterprises ltd , vadodara , india . new formulation of the liposomal amphotericin b , kalsome10 , was a kind gift from lifecare innovations pvt . , the commercially available amb deoxycholate was reconstituted in sterile , chilled , triple - distilled water to obtain a stock solution of 5 mg / ml . all other reagents used were of analytical grade ( sigma - aldrich , st louis , usa ) . experimental animals and strain of leishmania donovani : experiments were conducted on balb / c male mice ( 5 - 6 wk old , 2530 g ) purchased from laboratory animal facility of national institute of nutrition , hyderabad , india . the animals were maintained by giving a standard pellet diet and water ad libitum . mice were checked daily for their mortality and waning prior to commencement of the study and only healthy mice were included . hm / in / ke16/1998 strain of l. donovani isolate from an untreated child from muzaffarpur district of bihar ( eastern india ) was used for infection establishment12 . the parasite culture is being maintained in medium 199 with 25 mm hepes , ph 7.4 ( hi - media , mumbai ) supplemented with 10 per cent heat inactivated foetal bovine serum ( sigma - aldrich , usa ) at 22 c in a biological oxygen demand ( bod ) incubator . electron microscopic analysis of kalsome10 : to increase the plasma half - life of the liposomal drug kalsoma10 ( 10 mg / ml of amphotericin b ) for facilitating better bio - distribution in the body bath sonication was carried out for 45 min on ice . sonicated and non - sonicated preparations of kalsome10 were observed under the scanning electron microscopy . analysis was carried out on leo scanning electron microscope available at electron microscopy facility of aiims . in vivo single dose drug toxicity study : groups of six mice each were injected with various concentrations of...

background & objectives : current therapy for leishmaniasis is limited and unsatisfactory . amphotericin b , a second - line treatment is gradually replacing antimonials , the first - line treatment and is used as the preferred treatments in some regions . though , presently it is the only drug with highest cure rate , its use is severely restricted by its acute toxicity . in the present study novel lipid - amphotericin b formulations with lower toxicity than the parent drug were evaluated for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis ( vl ) in a mouse model.methods:the toxicity and therapeutic efficacy of a new amphiphilic formulation of amphotericin b ( kalsome10 ) was compared to that of amphotericin b deoxycholate ( fungizone ) in a mouse model of vl using quantitative real - time pcr ( qrt - pcr).results : the toxicity of amphotericin b was significantly less with liposomal formulation as compared to the deoxycholate form , evidenced by reduced nephrotoxicity and higher tolerated dose in balb / c mice . the therapeutic efficacy was evaluated by quantitative real time ( rt ) pcr using primers highly specific for the its region of leishmania donovani . there was reduction in parasite load by 2 log unit after 7 days of treatment and finally resulting in complete clearance of parasite from infected mice after 30 days of treatment with kalsome10.interpretation & conclusions : this new formulation showed a favourable safety profile and better efficacy when compared to conventional amphotericin b. if production cost is kept low , it may prove to be a feasible alternative to conventional amphotericin b.

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: fundus examination revealed a round - shaped hypopigmented macular lesion including a few yellow spots in the fovea [ fig . fa showed a macular transmission hyperfluorescent ring in which patchy hyperfluorescent and normofluorescent areas existed [ fig . fundus autofluorescence imaging showed scattered patchy hyperautofluorescent areas matching the hypopigmented fundus lesion [ fig . spectral - domain optical coherence tomography ( sd - oct , spectralis oct , heidelberg engineering , heidelberg , germany ) demonstrated hyper reflective accumulations ( humps ) involving rpe inner band and photoreceptor outer segments ( oss ) . outer nuclear layer and inner segment / os ( is / os ) line was distorted because of the accumulations . multifocal electroretinogram ( mferg , roland - consult retiscan system , wiesbaden , germany ) showed decreased amplitude in the central 2.3. the p1 amplitude in the central response was 50.3 nv / deg [ fig . arden ratios in electrooculogram ( eog ) were 2134 in the right eye and 1650 in the left eye . total error score in farnsworth - munsell-100 ( fm-100 ) hue test was 35 in the right eye and 157 in the left eye . the patient reported a viral ( possibly ) upper respiratory tract infection 710 days prior to the visual loss . a probable diagnosis of arpe was suggested , and the patient was followed in next weeks . ( a ) fundus photograph demonstrating round - shaped hypopigmented macular lesion including a few yellow spots in the fovea . ( c ) fluorescein angiography showing a macular transmission hyperfluorescent ring in which pathcy hyperfluorecent and normofluorescent areas existed . ( e ) spectral - domain optical coherence tomography image showing hyperreflective accumulations ( humps ) involving rpe inner band and photoreceptor outer segments . ( f ) multifocal electroretinogram showing depressed central ring amplitude best - corrected visual acuity improved gradually up to 20/20 in the next 5 weeks with no treatment . there was almost no change in fa and fof imaging compared...

a 20-year - old man applied with vision loss in the left eye . right eye examination was unremarkable . best - corrected visual acuity ( bcva ) in the left eye was 20/200 . fundus examination revealed a few yellow spots within a round - shaped macular lesion . autofluorescence imaging showed hyperautofluorescence in the lesion . central amplitudes in multifocal electroretinogram ( mferg ) were depressed . the patient reported a rhinopharyngitis 710 days before the visual loss . the patient was diagnosed as acute retinal pigment epithelitis . bcva improved gradually up to 20/20 in 4 weeks . mferg amplitudes returned to normal . a slight pigmentary distortion was the only residual fundus finding .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: episodic angioedema with eosinophilia ( eae ) , originally described by gleich et al . in 19841 ) , is a syndrome characterized by recurrent episodes of angioedema , fever , leukocytosis , eosinophilia , elevated serum igm , increased body weight , and a benign clinical course lacking any internal organ involvement . many other cases have been detected since this initial report , and this syndrome has been recognized as a distinct clinical entity2 , 3 ) . more than 40 cases with symptomatic presentations and laboratory findings similar to eae have been reported , but these cases have not involved recurrent attacks , and thus have been subsequently designated as nonepisodic angioedema with eosinophilia ( neae)4 - 8 ) . the majority of these neae cases have been reported in japanese patients , with the exception of three cases reported in the korean literature7 - 9 ) . this ethnic or regional distribution may be an important characteristic of neae . in this paper , we describe a patient whose clinical and laboratory features were similar to those observed in previous cases of neae , and also present our review of cases thus far reported in korea . a 26-year - old korean woman presented with edema of her hands and lower legs , which had developed 2 weeks prior to her hospital visit . her body weight had increased by 2 kg over those 2 weeks , and this was her first episode of the reported symptoms . the edema was distributed symmetrically on both of the patient 's upper and lower extremities , and was pitted . she denied any febrile sensation and had a pruritic rash on her lower legs ( figure 1a-1c ) , and had also experienced mild joint pain in both knees 1 week after the onset of the edema . she also denied taking any drugs , including oriental medications , with the exception of one acetaminophen tablet ( 300 mg ) 1 week prior to the onset of edema . laboratory tests revealed leukocytosis ( 12,250/mm ; normal range : 4,000 - 10,000/mm ) with 51.5% eosinophils ( normal range : 0~7% ) in the peripheral blood...

episodic angioedema with eosinophilia ( eae ) is characterized by recurrent angioedema , peripheral eosinophilia , elevated serum igm , fever , weight gain , and a benign course lacking any internal organ involvement . dozens of cases of the nonepisodic variant ( neae ) , which is limited to a single attack , have been reported in japan . these neae cases normally have been less severe than the episodic type . in this paper , we describe the case of a korean patient whose clinical and laboratory findings were consistent with neae , and review five other cases of eae and neae reported in the korean literature . the korean neae cases outlined in this paper demonstrate that , as in japan , neae is not uncommon in korea , and also suggest that this disease exhibits a cultural predilection for asian populations .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: antimicrobial agents are both a boon and threat to human health , with questions about their proper design , useful application , disposal and regulatory framework looming large for scientists , the medical community , regulators and consumers of antiseptic personal care products . in the late 1930s and early 1940s , it was discovered that the substitution on aromatic rings of hydrogen atoms with chlorine , yielded a novel chemistry of powerful biocides , including antimicrobials . the resultant synthetic organohalides , which are either absent or rare in natural environments , immediately were put to large volume , worldwide use as biocides . however , within a few years , many of these compounds and formulations showed adverse effects , including human toxicity , ecotoxicity , and unwanted environmental persistence and bioaccumulation , quickly leading to regulatory bans and phase - outs . for example , hexachlorophene , introduced in 1948 as a binuclear aromatic organohalide carrying six chlorine substituents , was banned from most uses by the 1970s . curiously , triclocarban ( tcc ) and triclosan ( tcs ) , two persistent antimicrobials first introduced to commerce in 1957 and 1964 , respectively , feature a very similar chemistry ( i.e. , two benzene rings carrying multiple chlorines ) yet continue to be produced and consumed to this day at high volume . indeed , the consumption of tcs and tcc and the abundance of antimicrobial products have increased in the u.s . and abroad over the past two decades , due to relaxed regulation , aggressive and widespread advertising , and media reports driving fears of potent and sometimes lethal microbial infections acquired in everyday - life by unsuspecting victims . this multibillion dollar market has saturated supermarkets worldwide and vastly accelerated the consumption of antimicrobial products ; today , tcc and more so tcs can be found in soaps , detergents , clothing , carpets , paints , plastics , toys ,...

the polychlorinated aromatic antimicrobials triclosan and triclocarban are in widespread use for killing microorganisms indiscriminately , rapidly , and by nonspecific action . while their utility in healthcare settings is undisputed , benefits to users of antimicrobial personal care products are few to none . yet , these latter , high - volume uses have caused widespread contamination of the environment , wildlife , and human populations . this feature article presents a timeline of scientific evidence and regulatory actions in the u.s . concerning persistent polychlorinated biocides , showing a potential path forward to judicious and sustainable uses of synthetic antimicrobials , including the design of greener and safer next - generation alternatives .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome ( sfts ) is an emerging tick - borne disease that was first reported in china in 2011 . there have been 2,047 cases reported in china , while 53 cases and 36 cases have been reported in japan and korea , respectively . it is known that sfts occurs from may to august when the tick 's activity is intense . however , in korea , sfts patients are increasing in september when people are mowing the grass around graves on the mountain . chief complaints include fever , thrombocytopenia , leukopenia , nausea , and vomiting . in a rapidly progressing sfts , the fatality rate becomes 6% to 30% , and it is accompanied by multiple organ failure , bleeding tendency , and altered mentality . supportive treatment , such as transfusion , renal replacement therapy , and empirical antibiotics , has been the basis of treatment for sfts . china has been using intravenous ribavirin as a guideline for the treatment of sfts since 2012 . there was a case wherein a patient of advanced age had a high probability of poor prognosis accompanied by clinical features , such as central nervous system ( cns ) manifestation , bleeding tendency , disseminated intravascular coagulation , and multiple organ failure . we are reporting two patients who showed cns manifestation , and we treated them with ribavirin along with plasma exchange at an early stage . a 60-year - old male mowed the grass near a grave on a mountain 3 weeks before the hospital admission , and then he developed and lower abdominal rash , fever , chills , myalgia , cough , and mucopurulent sputum 1 week before the hospital admission . he visited the local hospital 2 days before the admission , and the blood test showed abnormal liver function test and thrombocytopenia . on admission to the hospital , his blood pressure was 110/70 mmhg , pulse rate was 75/min , respiratory rate was 20/min , and body temperature ( tympanic membrane ) was 37.3c . there was no eschar on the skin ; however , a lower abdominal popular rash has developed...

severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome ( sfts ) is an emerging tick - borne disease . the primary symptoms associated with sfts are fever , thrombocytopenia , leukopenia , nausea , and vomiting . disease progression shows high mortality rate accompanied with multiple organ failure , bleeding tendency , and altered mentality . however , only supportive care has been the basis for the treatment of sfts . we are reporting two patients who showed central nervous system manifestation , but cured them with ribavirin together with plasma exchange in an early state . the first case is a 60-year - old male , who was admitted to the hospital with a 7-day history of fever , chills , and thrombocytopenia . he was treated with empirical antibiotics ; however , he experienced persistent high fever and an altered mentality has occurred . on hospital day 6 , the sfts virus ( sftsv ) result from a real - time reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction ( rt - pcr ) was confirmed positive . therefore , ribavirin ( 30 mg / kg as initial loading dose , 15 mg / kg qid for 4 days and then 7.5 mg / kg qid as maintenance dose ) was administered orally for 11 days and plasma exchange was performed for 5 days . the clinical outcome has improved . the second case is a 48-year - old male , who was admitted to the hospital with a 10-day history of fever , chills , myalgia , diarrhea , and thrombocytopenia . he was treated with empirical antibiotics . on hospital day 3 , ribavirin ( 30 mg / kg as initial loading dose , 15 mg / kg qid as maintenance dose ) was administered orally for 4 days and plasma exchange was performed for 4 days due to his high fever and altered mentality after a positive sftsv result from a real - time rt - pcr . the patient had a successful recovery .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: interference in the balance between the environmental production of reactive oxygen species ( ros ) , including hydroxyl radicals ( oh ) and hydrogen peroxide ( h2o2 ) , and the ability of biological systems to readily detect and detoxify them , or repair the resulting damage , are defined as oxidative stress . highly reactive radicals cause the oxidative damage of different macromolecules proteins , dna , and lipids leading to loss of function , an increased rate of mutagenesis , and ultimately cell death . in humans , for example , oxidative stress is involved in many diseases , such as rheumatoid arthritis , autoinflammatory diseases , neurodegenerative diseases , and cancer [ 1 , 2 ] . however , the production of some ros ( e.g. , oh ) can also be beneficial , as they are used by the human immune system to attack and kill pathogens , such as the production of ros by macrophages . sensing of ros - mediated signals also plays a crucial role in the biology of microorganisms . bacteria , for example , are in continuous contact with ros generated both endogenously , as a product of aerobic metabolism , or exogenously during ionizing ( ) and nonionizing ( uv ) irradiation leading to the production of a number of radical and peroxide species through the ionization of intracellular water . industrial contaminants that are widespread in soils and on the surfaces of plants are also sources of ros . iron is earth 's fourth most abundant metal , after oxygen , silicon , and aluminium . its relevance for bacterial cells is emphasized by the fact that it is involved in a wide range of biological processes , including photosynthesis , n2 fixation , h2 production and consumption , respiration , oxygen transport , and gene regulation [ 4 , 5 ] . however , in the presence of oxygen , ferrous ions frequently result in oxidative stress through the generation of hydroxyl radicals via the fenton reaction ( fe + h2o2fe + oh + oh ) . therefore , bacteria have developed a variety of different mechanisms to ensure that iron...

bacteria are permanently in contact with reactive oxygen species ( ros ) , both over the course of their life cycle as well that present in their environment . these species cause damage to proteins , lipids , and nucleotides , negatively impacting the organism . to detect these ros molecules and to stimulate the expression of proteins involved in antioxidative stress response , bacteria use a number of different protein - based regulatory and sensory systems . ros - based stress detection mechanisms induce posttranslational modifications , resulting in overall conformational and structural changes within sensory proteins . the subsequent structural rearrangements result in changes of protein activity , which lead to regulated and appropriate response on the transcriptional level . many bacterial enzymes and regulatory proteins possess a conserved signature , the zinc - containing redox centre cys - x - x - cys in which a disulfide bridge is formed upon oxidative stress . other metal - dependent oxidative modifications of amino acid side - chains ( dityrosines , 2-oxo - histidines , or carbonylation ) also modulate the activity of redox - sensitive proteins . using molecular biology , biochemistry , biophysical , and structure biology tools , molecular mechanisms involved in sensing and response to oxidative stress have been elucidated in detail . in this review , we analyze some examples of bacterial redox - sensing proteins involved in antioxidative stress response and focus further on the currently known molecular mechanism of function .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the response to interferon - based therapy for patients with compensated cirrhosis due to hepatitis c has been evaluated in several trials , both as the focus of prospective study , as well as in subgroup ( post hoc ) analyses of large registration trials . despite the improved efficacy of peginterferons , the sustained virological response ( svr ) rate is suboptimal in cirrhotic patients , relative to non - cirrhotic patients . however , the treatment of patients with compensated cirrhosis has recently been encouraged by the international liver transplant society expert panel in 2003 which concluded that patients with relatively compensated cirrhosis , defined by a meld score of 18 or less , are acceptable treatment candidates . 1 the likelihood of achieving an svr with interferon - based therapy in cirrhotic patients can be deduced from prior studies which focused upon , or incorporated patients with , advanced fibrosis . arguably , the most important trial on this issue was conducted by heathcote and colleagues in patients with advanced stage fibrosis or cirrhosis . 2 patients were randomized to peginterferon -2a , at one of two doses ( 90 mcg or 180 mcg weekly ) , or standard interferon . the svr rate was greatest for those treated with peginterferon alpha-2a 180 mcg weekly for 48 weeks ( 30% ) ; this is in comparison to a svr rate of only 8% in those treated with standard , thrice weekly , interferon . in subgroup analysis comparing those with bridging fibrosis to those with cirrhosis , there did not appear to be a statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of achieving an svr . the patients infected with genotype 1 who received the 180 mcg dose of pegylated interferon had a 12% svr rate , in comparison to 51% non - type 1 genotypes treated with this dose . further analysis of data from the heathcote trial revealed that treatment was associated with histological improvement , especially in the group that experienced an svr . comparing the pegylated interferon group ( 180 mcg ) group...

despite the improved efficacy of peginterferons , the rate of sustained virologic response is suboptimal in cirrhotic patients , relative to non - cirrhotic patients . however , the treatment of patients with compensated cirrhosis has recently been encouraged by expert panels . interferon - based therapy may provide additional benefit by reducing the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic patients as suggested in preliminary studies . results of two ongoing prospective studies are awaited to answer the important question of the effectiveness of suppressive interferon therapy , even in the absence of sustained virologic response . given the importance of recurrent hcv following liver transplantation , attention has been directed toward the antiviral treatment of patients with advanced liver disease . this approach needs to be pursued with caution given the potential morbidity of the therapy . recently , a low accelerating dosage regimen has provided excellent results and is the subject of additional inquiry .