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Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: participants came from the twins early development study ( teds ) , a population - based longitudinal study of all twins born in england and wales from 1994 to 1996 . the present paper is based on data collected from parents when the twins were approximately 8 ( mean sd = 7.89 0.53 ) , 9 ( 9.01 0.29 ) , and 12 ( 11.28 0.70 ) years old , and from teachers when the twins were approximately 9 ( 9.04 0.29 ) and 12 ( 11.54 0.66 ) years old . zygosity in same - sex twins was established using a parent - rated twin similarity questionnaire ( 60.5% of twins ) and dna genotyping ( 39.5% of twins ) . twin pairs were excluded from the analyses if severe pre- or postnatal complications were reported or if either twin had a severe medical condition . to retain the full range of variability in autistic traits , children who had suspected or confirmed asd ( n = 238 ) based on the development and well - being assessment ( dawba ) were included in the analyses when data were available . after exclusions , parent - reported data on both twins were available from 6,280 families at age 8 years , 3,126 families at age 9 years ( the 9-year sample was a subsample of families with twins born between january 1994 and august 1995 ) , and 5,339 families at age 12 years . teacher data were available from 2,663 families at age 9 and 4,405 families at age 12 . autistic traits were assessed using the childhood autism spectrum test ( cast , formerly the childhood asperger syndrome test ) . the cast was developed as a screening questionnaire for use in non - clinical settings . the published measure consists of 37 items , 31 of which relate to autistic traits ( raters are asked to rate the child on specific behaviors associated with autistic traits ) , the remaining 6 being control questions on general development . at age 12 years , 1 item ( regarding pretend play ) was removed for not being age appropriate . each question was rated yes ( 1)/no ( 0 ) at ages 8 and 12 , and as not true ( 0 ) , somewhat true ( 1 ) , or ...

objectivedisorders on the autism spectrum , as well as autistic traits in the general population , have been found to be both highly stable across age and highly heritable at individual ages . however , little is known about the overlap in genetic and environmental influences on autistic traits across age and the contribution of such influences to trait stability itself . the present study investigated these questions in a general population sample of twins.methodmore than 6,000 twin pairs were rated on an established scale of autistic traits by their parents at 8 , 9 , and 12 years of age and by their teachers at 9 and 12 years of age . data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.resultsthe results indicated that , consistently across raters , not only were autistic traits stable , and moderately to highly heritable at individual ages , but there was also a high degree of overlap in genetic influences across age . furthermore , autistic trait stability could largely be accounted for by genetic factors , with the environment unique to each twin playing a minor role . the environment shared by twins had virtually no effect on the longitudinal stability in autistic traits.conclusionsautistic traits are highly stable across middle childhood . and this stability is caused primarily by genetic factors .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: tum or consisted of a firm , well - circumscribed , ovoid piece of soft pink tissue measuring 21.51 cm in the supraglottic area of the larynx . histologically , the mass showed a fibrous and chondromyxoid stroma containing epithelial and myoepithelial cells . epithelial component consisted of relatively uniform - appearing cells arranged in tubules and small , nested aggregates ( figure 1 ) myoepithelial component was positive for p63 , s100 protein ( figure 2a ) , and glial fibrillary acidic protein ( gfap ) ( figure 2b ) ; and focally positive smooth muscle actin ( sma ) . ( a - b ) hematoxylin and eosin ( h&e ) stained section showing sheets of myoepithelial cells and ductular structures lined with epithelial cells set in chondromyxoid stroma ( h&e , a : 40 ; b : 100 ) . ( c ) adjacent to the lesion , normal laryngeal cartilage can be seen ( h&e , 100 ) . immunohistochemistry indicates that the myoepithelial cells cytoplasm is focally positive for s100 protein ( a ) and glial fibrillary acidic protein ( gfap ) ( b ) ( a : 100 ; b : 100 ) . pa is a commonly diagnosed benign tumor in the salivary glands that may also occur in a variety of other sites ; however , it is rarely seen in the larynx . the diagnosis of pa is simple , but when it grows in an unusual site like the larynx , it can be mistaken for a malignant neoplasm . pleomorphic adenomas are characterized by epithelial tissue mixed with tissues of myxoid , mucoid or chondroid appearance . histologically , pleomorphic adenoma of the larynx may resemble aggressive epithelial tumors because of the high cellularity and lack of a stromal component . importantly , this feature is not in keeping with that of major salivary glands , which demonstrate relatively reduced myoepithelial cellularity . occasionally , pleomorphic adenomas are composed almost entirely of epithelial cells with few or no stromata myoepithelial cells are variably positive for s100 protein , sma , gfap , calponin , and cd10 . although pa is a benign tumor , it can cause problems in...

pleomorphic adenoma ( pa ) is the most common benign neoplasm of the salivary glands . it usually occurs in major salivary glands , such as the parotid and submandibular glands . occasionally , however , it occurs in the larynx . these lesions generally present as a slow - growing , painless mass . malignant transformation is very rare , but it increases with time . the present report is the case of a 59-year - old male who presented with a complaint of hoarseness . right vertical partial hemilaryngectomy revealed an intact , mucosa - covered , fleshy 21.51 cm mass in the supraglottic area of the larynx . lesion had histological characteristics of a pa , and this was confirmed by immunohistochemical expression of cytokeratin , s100 protein , glial fibrillary acidic protein ( gfap ) and vimentin . their histopathological identification is , however , not always straightforward ; immunohistochemistry can contribute significantly to formulation of a definitive diagnosis and to the realization of appropriate follow - up .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: secondary hyperparathyroidism ( shpt ) is often underdiagnosed or insufficiently treated in patients not yet receiving dialysis , when therapy would have greater short- and long - term benefits . hyperparathyroidism also frequently persists after successful renal transplantation and is present in up to 50% of patients 1 year after renal transplant surgery . thus , early diagnosis and management of shpt in chronic kidney disease ( ckd ) patients and recognition and treatment of persistent hyperparathyroidism in post - transplant patients is important and might reduce morbidity from cardiovascular and bone disease . the efficacy of the calcimimetic cinacalcet was recently explored in these two distinct patient populations . in this article , the manifestations of hyperparathyroidism in stage 3 and 4 ckd and in kidney transplant patients will be discussed , and data regarding the efficacy of cinacalcet in these two groups of patients will be presented . patients with stage 3 and 4 ckd are more likely to die than to progress to end - stage renal disease . among patients with stage 3 ckd , 24.3% of patients died within 5 years versus 1.3% who progressed to renal replacement therapy . among patients with stage 4 ckd , 45.7% died within 5 years , compared with 19.9% who progressed to dialysis or transplantation ( figure 1 ) . accordingly , the national kidney foundation kidney disease outcomes quality initiative guidelines recommend treatment of shpt in stage 3 and 4 ckd patients to reduce disease severity and associated morbidity . the underrecognition and undertreatment of shpt in these patients has serious consequences , including vascular calcifications and bone disease . thus , in the context of shpt , elevated serum phosphorus has been associated with increased mortality risk and with acute myocardial infarction in ckd patients not receiving dialysis . the hypercalcaemia , hyperphosphataemia and increased calcium phosphorus product ( ca p ) associated with shpt contribute to the development of vascular...

cinacalcet has proven effective in the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism ( shpt ) in dialysis patients , and it may also have benefits in stage 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease ( ckd ) . the efficacy of cinacalcet in the treatment of shpt was investigated in a study of 54 patients with stage 3 and 4 ckd not receiving dialysis . a significant number of these patients achieved at least a 30% reduction in parathyroid hormone ( pth ) from baseline with cinacalcet therapy compared with placebo ( 56% versus 19% ; p = 0.006 ) . another potential use of cinacalcet is in the treatment of persistent hyperparathyroidism ( hpt ) after kidney transplantation . the pathophysiologic considerations for persistent hpt in patients who have undergone renal transplantation are different from those in stage 3 and 4 ckd . post - transplant patients with normal graft function often present with hypercalcaemia , low serum phosphorus and persistently elevated levels of pth . in eight small open - label studies including a total of 83 patients with persistent hpt after successful kidney transplantation , cinacalcet treatment effectively corrected hypercalcaemia and significantly reduced elevated pth levels . these studies suggest that cinacalcet therapy is an effective therapy in controlling hyperparathyroidism in patients with stage 3 and 4 ckd and in post - transplant patients with persistent hyperparathyroidism .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: p. vivax is the most prevalent cause of human malaria in the americas , accounting for more than 70% of total cases reported . chloroquine ( cq ) at a dose of 25 mg / kg over three days remains the first line therapy for vivax malaria . to prevent relapse , pq is given to all nonpregnant patients greater than 6 months of age with normal activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase ( g-6-pd ) . the peruvian national malaria control program changed from the standard 14-day course of pq at 0.25 mg / kg / day to a 7-day regimen of 0.5 mg / kg / day in 1998 . both regimens achieve a total adult pq dose of 210 mg which is assumed to be widely effective against the hypnozoite stage of p. vivax strains acquired outside of southeast asia and the indo - pacific islands . widespread chloroquine resistance ( cqr ) has been reported in some areas of the world , although , up until now , only two confirmed cases have been reported in peru [ 2 , 3 ] . recurrence of p. vivax following treatment can be classified as recrudescence , which is the recurrence of parasitemia originating from subpatent trophozoites that survived in the blood following treatment , relapse which is the recurrence of parasitemia originating from latent hypnozoites in the liver , or reinfection with a new strain . recrudescence occurs when the blood stage antimalarial drug such as chloroquine fails , either due to inadequate dosing or resistance of the blood stage parasites to the drug . relapse can occur in the absence of a specific treatment against the hypnozoite stage or when the liver stage antimalarial drug such as primaquine fails to completely eradicate the parasite from the liver . in general , reappearance of parasitemia between 17 and 35 days after treatment is attributed to either recrudescence , early relapse , or reinfection , whereas reappearance after 35 days is attributed to a relapse or reinfection . based on the treatment sensitivity demonstrated by p. vivax to blood levels of total cq ( parent compound cq plus the active...

the widespread use of primaquine ( pq ) and chloroquine ( cq ) , together , may be responsible for the relatively few , isolated cases of chloroquine - resistant p. vivax ( cqrpv ) that have been reported from south america . we report here a case of p. vivax from the amazon basin of peru that recurred against normally therapeutic blood levels of cq . four out of 540 patients treated with combination cq and pq had a symptomatic recurrence of p. vivax parasitemia within 35 days of treatment initiation , possibly indicating cq failure . whole blood total cq level for one of these four subjects was 95 ng / ml on the day of recurrence . based on published criteria that delineate cqrpv as a p. vivax parasitemia , either recrudescence or relapse , that appears against cq blood levels > 100 ng / ml , we document the occurrence of a p. vivax strain in peru that had unusually high tolerance to the synergistic combination therapy of cq + pq that normally works quite well .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: vibrio parahaemolyticus and vibrio vulnificus are important foodborne pathogens associated with the consumption of fish and shellfish , especially oysters , which have long been known to bioconcentrate vibrios within their edible tissues [ 1 , 2 ] . vibrio vulnificus also causes life - threatening illness from wound infections acquired in the marine environment . pathogenic vibrios show seasonal predilection in seawater and shellfish , with high counts during warmer months and low to negligible counts during the colder months [ 2 , 4 , 5 ] . recently , we showed that naturally occurring bdellovibrio and like organisms ( balos ) from coastal seawater significantly reduced the levels of v. parahaemolyticus and v. vulnificus in seawater and v. parahaemolyticus in seawater and oysters . among the balos are marine and terrestrial forms , with the marine forms associated with bacteriovorax , which are exclusively saltwater predators [ 7 , 8 ] . bacteriovorax have shown preferential predation toward v. parahaemolyticus when compared to a broad range of potential host bacteria [ 912 ] . this suggests that bacteriovorax may invade and kill v. parahaemolyticus in seawater more efficiently than other bacterial pathogens . the life cycle of bacteriovorax and other balos usually involve intracellular invasion of and replication within a host cell , although some are known to grow host - independently [ 1316 ] . during the attack phase , balos propel themselves with a single polar flagellum to find a susceptible gram - negative bacterium to serve as its host . the balo enzymatically digests a hole in the host membrane , enters the periplasmic space , and , utilizing nutrients from the host , grows in a worm - like fashion in a structure known as a bdelloplast . when mature , the bdelloplast septates into multiple immature cells and are subsequently released from the host as it lyses . the immature cells develop into mature , attack phase cells to repeat the cycle all over again . attack phase balos are small , with a...

bacteriovorax were quantified in us atlantic , gulf , and pacific seawater to determine baseline levels of these predatory bacteria and possible seasonal fluctuations in levels . surface seawater was analyzed monthly for 1 year from kailua - kona , hawaii ; the gulf coast of alabama ; and four sites along the delaware bay . screening for bacteriovorax was performed on lawns of v. parahaemolyticus host cells . direct testing of 7.5 ml portions of seawater from the atlantic , pacific , and gulf coasts gave mean annual counts 12.2 pfu . spikes in counts were observed at 3 out of 4 sites along the delaware bay 1 week after hurricane sandy . a comparison of summer versus winter counts showed significantly more bacteriovorax ( p 0.0001 ) in the delaware bay during the summer and significantly more ( p 0.0001 ) in the gulf during the winter , but no significant seasonal differences ( p > 0.05 ) for hawaiian seawater . bacteriovorax counts only correlated with seawater salinity and temperature at one delaware site ( r = 0.79 and r = 0.65 , resp . ) . there was a relatively strong negative correlation between temperature and bacteriovorax levels ( r = 0.585 ) for gulf seawater . selected isolates were sequenced and identified by phylogenetic analysis as bacteriovorax clusters ix , x , xi , and xii .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the millennium cohort is the largest prospective study using primary data collection ever undertaken by the department of defense ( dod ) . the study began in 2001 with the objective to collect and evaluate data on health , behavioral risk factors , and occupational characteristics related to military service that may be associated with adverse health outcomes ( 14 ) . this report includes participants from the first enrollment cycle that spanned 20012003 and comprised 77,047 participants ( 36% of those able to be contacted ) . approximately 71% of those participants enrolled at baseline responded to follow - up surveys conducted in 2004 and 2007 . the surveys were administered via paper and the internet and included questions on self - reported provider - diagnosed medical conditions , mental health symptoms , physical and functional status , alcohol and tobacco use , occupational status , military exposures , sleep patterns , and demographic information . this study was approved by the naval health research center institutional review board , and informed consent was obtained from all study participants . this research has been conducted in compliance with all applicable federal regulations governing the protection of human subjects in research ( protocol nhrc.2000.0007 ) . of the 77,047 participants enrolled at baseline , follow - up surveys were completed by 55,021 participants at year 3 and 54,790 at year 6 . since incident diabetes was the outcome of interest , eligible participants included those who were followed until either the outcome was reported to have occurred at year 3 or 6 , or until their last completed follow - up if the outcome was not reported . exclusions included participants reporting provider - diagnosed diabetes at baseline , missing outcome or exposure data , or if dod outpatient or inpatient medical encounter data contained codes for type 1 diabetes ( n = 72 ) ( icd-9 codes 250.x1 and 250.x3 ) . the primary data sources were the self - administered millennium cohort surveys and dod...

objectiveresearch has suggested that a higher risk of type 2 diabetes associated with sleep characteristics exists . however , studies have not thoroughly assessed the potential confounding effects of mental health conditions associated with alterations in sleep.research design and methodswe prospectively assessed the association between sleep characteristics and self - reported incident diabetes among millennium cohort study participants prospectively followed over a 6-year time period . surveys are administered approximately every 3 years and collect self - reported data on demographics , height , weight , lifestyle , features of military service , sleep , clinician - diagnosed diabetes , and mental health conditions assessed by the prime - md patient health questionnaire and the ptsd checklist civilian version . statistical methods for longitudinal data were used for data analysis.resultswe studied 47,093 participants ( mean 34.9 years of age ; mean bmi 26.0 kg / m2 ; 25.6% female ) . during 6 years of follow - up , 871 incident diabetes cases occurred ( annual incidence 3.6/1,000 person - years ) . in univariate analyses , incident diabetes was significantly more likely among participants with self - reported trouble sleeping , sleep duration < 6 h , and sleep apnea . participants reporting incident diabetes were also significantly older , of nonwhite race , of higher bmi , less likely to have been deployed , and more likely to have reported baseline symptoms of panic , anxiety , posttraumatic stress disorder , and depression . after adjusting for covariates , trouble sleeping ( odds ratio 1.21 [ 95% ci 1.031.42 ] ) and sleep apnea ( 1.78 [ 1.392.28 ] ) were significantly and independently related to incident diabetes.conclusionstrouble sleeping and sleep apnea predict diabetes risk independent of mental health conditions and other diabetes risk factors .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: pathologically , ad is characterized by extracellular aggregation of amyloid - beta into senile plaques and hyper - phosphorylated tau protein accumulation in intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles ( beach et al . , clinically , ad is characterized by progressive cognitive decline that typically presents with memory loss as the initial and primary concern ( alzheimer 's association , 2014 ) . worldwide , approximately 47.5 million individuals are living with dementia , the majority of which suffer from alzheimer 's disease ( world health organization , 2016 ) . emerging research has focused on the identification of biomarkers that will assist with early diagnosis of ad and allow for the evaluation of potential disease modifying treatments ( dubois et al . , considerable effort has been devoted to the development of pet molecular neuroimaging biomarkers of amyloid and tau in ad ( e.g. wang et al . , 2016 ) , however , magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) continues to offer a non - invasive and easily repeatable method of examining neuropathological changes associated with ad . to date , the majority of mri - based research in ad has focused on tissue loss in grey matter structures ( cash et al . , these findings indicate widespread whole brain grey matter atrophy in individuals with ad , including enlarged ventricles and decreased hippocampal volume ( gold , 2012 , hampel et al . , 2014 , the amyloid cascade hypothesis ( hardy and higgins , 1992 ) suggests that axonal degeneration arises as a result of wallerian degeneration . however , the close association of tau with both axonal integrity and with the cognitive symptoms of ad suggests that white matter changes may occur independently and perhaps prior to changes in grey matter . ( 2007 ) hypothesizes that white matter degeneration in ad follows a reverse pattern to that observed in early myelination . these ideas lend support to the notion of white matter changes in ad as biomarkers that may be particularly helpful in earlier identification of ad ( see amlien...

backgroundalzheimer 's disease ( ad ) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder . current avenues of ad research focus on pre - symptomatic biomarkers that will assist with early diagnosis of ad . the majority of magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) based biomarker research to date has focused on neuronal loss in grey matter and there is a paucity of research on white matter.methodslongitudinal dti data from the alzheimer 's disease neuroimaging initiative 2 database were used to examine 1 ) the within - group microstructural white matter changes in individuals with ad and healthy controls at baseline and year one ; and 2 ) the between - group microstructural differences in individuals with ad and healthy controls at both time points.results1 ) within - group : longitudinal tract - based spatial statistics revealed that individuals with ad and healthy controls both had widespread reduced fractional anisotropy ( fa ) and increased mean diffusivity ( md ) with changes in the hippocampal cingulum exclusive to the ad group . 2 ) between - group : relative to healthy controls , individuals with ad had lower fa and higher md in the hippocampal cingulum , as well as the corpus callosum , internal and external capsule ; corona radiata ; posterior thalamic radiation ; superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculus ; fronto - occipital fasciculus ; cingulate gyri ; fornix ; uncinate fasciculus ; and tapetum.conclusionthe current results indicate that sensitivity to white matter microstructure is a promising avenue for ad biomarker research . additional longitudinal studies on both white and grey matter are warranted to further evaluate potential clinical utility .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: herbal ingredients are commonly found in many products , including cosmetics , drugs , foods , and oral hygiene products , such as mouth rinse , toothpaste , and lozenges . for example , the biological properties of herbal substances should be evaluated to exclude the possibility of adverse effects on human tissue . the toxic effects of an herbal substance are of particular concern because the damage caused can not only be acute , such as a degeneration of tissue , but can also be chronic , such as a delay in wound healing . clinacanthus nutans is widely grown in tropical asian countries and constitutes an important herbal medicine in thailand . this plant exerts a potential beneficial effect on wound healing based on evidence provided by practitioners of folk medicine and detailed several scientific reports from thailand . c. nutans or phaya - yor in thai [ figure 1 ] has been traditionally used in thailand for the treatment of herpes infections . in addition , this herb also exhibits excellent and rapid - acting anti - inflammatory activity , which makes a topical product of c. nutans , a valuable natural product for the relief of minor skin inflammation . however , scientists in thailand found that dysentery and fever can be treated by this plant . due to its anti - cell lysis property , the plant has been used as an anti - venom agent for snake and scorpion bites and to remove nettle rashes . in addition , this plant has recently received much attention because of its potential application in cancer treatment . clinacanthus nutans ( www.madoorayong.com ) three levels of biological testing are available for dental materials . most of the new dental materials such as dental adhesives were introduced in the clinical practice to investigate their biocompatibility by in vitro screening test before in vivo experiment . the second level of testing is performed on animals to evaluate the tissue or bone response of the host . preclinical evaluation is necessary to establish the biocompatibility of medical devices...

objectives : the aim of this study was to compare the results of dimethylthiazol diphenyltetrazolium bromide ( mtt ) and neutral red uptake ( nru ) assays of clinacanthus nutans cytotoxicity.materials and methods : mouse fibroblast ( l929 ) cells were exposed to 0.01% , 0.1% , 0.25% , and 0.5% ( w / v ) c. nutans in a 96-cluster - well - culture plate for 24 h. the cell viability after exposure to c. nutans was determined by mtt and nru assays in separate tissue culture plates . the two assays were compared through an intra - class correlation coefficient ( icc ) analysis.results:no significant differences in cytotoxicity were noted between the two assays ( p > 0.05 ) . the icc values for agreement between two assays for the negative and positive control groups and c. nutans concentrations of 0.01% , 0.1% , 0.25% , and 0.5% were 0.84 , 0.83 , 0.77 , 0.68 , 0.74 , and 0.71 , respectively.conclusion:in general , the mtt and nru assays performed similarly , exhibiting moderate to good correlation for the evaluation of the cytotoxicity of c. nutans .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the introduction of modern surgical techniques including phacoemulsification and small incision cataract surgery has contributed to a reduction in the incidence of cme since it was initially reported by irvine in 1953 . angiographic cme is detected by fluorescein angiography and is significantly more common than clinical cme . clinical and optical coherence tomography ( oct ) evidence of cme after uncomplicated cataract surgery is present in around 0.12.35 and 5% , respectively [ 1 , 4 , 5 ] . the diagnosis of cme was previously made with fluorescein angiography after the patient became symptomatic ; however , the emergence of oct has provided a quick and noninvasive means of diagnosis . patient factors predisposing to cme include comorbidities with high vasoactive profile ( diabetic retinopathy , uveitis ) , while surgical factors include inflammation - inducing complications such as retained lens material , vitreous loss and vitreomacular traction . however , many otherwise healthy patients who undergo routine surgery continue to develop the condition . the most frequently applied treatment paradigms include aggressive topical nonsteroidal anti - inflammatory drugs or steroids aimed at minimizing inflammation [ 6 , 7 ] . while the condition is usually self - limiting and the resolution of symptoms is likely to occur within 312 months , it may occasionally persist and lead to permanent vision loss . the prevention of irvine - gass syndrome continues to pose challenges for ophthalmologists , due to its ability to affect individuals without any obvious predisposing factors at variable times of onset postoperatively . an 82-year - old male with no significant past ocular history was referred for evaluation and treatment of progressive blurred vision secondary to bilateral cataract ( 1 + cortical , 2 + nuclear sclerotic ) by his optometrist . his best - corrected visual acuity ( bcva ) was 6/9 in both eyes , with no evidence of any other ocular disease . his past medical history was significant only for...

purposeto report a case of acute bilateral irvine - gass syndrome.methodsthis is an observational case report.resultsan 82-year - old man with no significant ocular history developed postsurgical pseudophakic cystoid macular edema ( cme ; irvine - gass syndrome ) on consecutive phacoemulsification cataract surgeries . his initial first - eye ( left ) cme developed 25 days after surgery and was managed with topical preparations of dexamethasone 0.1% and ketorolac 0.4% , in addition to a routine post - cataract surgery drop regime . his left cme resolved completely on optical coherence tomography ( oct ) by day 100 , and he subsequently ( after extensive discussion of cme risks ) underwent cataract surgery on his right eye . he was commenced prophylactically on dexamethasone , ketorolac and oral indomethacin 25 mg t.d.s . immediately after surgery ; however , he later developed cme ( od ) on day 32 postoperatively . within 6 months , he achieved complete resolution of his cme in both eyes . his clinical course was documented with serial oct studies.conclusionirvine-gass syndrome remains an important differential diagnosis in the evaluation of blurred vision after cataract surgery , despite decreasing incidence . those who experience cme following their first cataract operation should be counseled about the risks of developing the condition in the contralateral eye , despite prophylactic measures .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: a pigment is a coloured organic or inorganic solid that is usually insoluble in its application media . pigments are used when extreme resistance to light , weather or temperature is needed , e.g. in automotive paints and other outdoor applications . due to its insolubility , a pigment will usually retain its crystal structure throughout the preparation and application process . various physico - chemical properties of pigments , including colour , thermal stability , particle shape , light fastness and fluorescence , are dependent on the crystal packing of the pigment molecules . despite the commercial significance of non - azo organic pigments , only few full crystal structures of these materials have been reported , because single crystals are hard to obtain . the crystallites are often so small that they lead to considerable line broadening in x - ray powder diffraction . single - crystal growth by sublimation methods , on the other hand , rarely produces crystals of suitable quality for conventional x - ray single - crystal structure determination . as a result , the important crystallographic features , controlling the crystal chemistry of such materials , have remained unknown for many pigments . the purpose of this research is to study the feasibility of obtaining the crystal structures of the polymorphs of pigments with the aid of crystal structure prediction ( csp ) tools in combination with limited experimental data . a similar approach was reported by erk ( 2001 ) and schmidt et al . one can obtain a good impression of the state - of - the - art in crystal structure prediction by looking at the results of csp tests organized in recent years by the cambridge crystallographic data centre ( see day et al . blind tests in 1999 , 2001 and 2004 indicated that certain progress has been made in the ab initio prediction of structures of small ( not more than 25 atoms ) rigid molecules containing only c , h , n and o atoms . as an example of an insoluble pigment with poor crystal quality , unsubstituted...

the structures of the , and polymorphs of quinacridone were predicted using polymorph predictor software in combination with x - ray powder diffraction patterns of limited quality . the present work demonstrates a method to obtain crystal structures of industrially important pigments when only a low - quality powder pattern is available .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: nowadays , post - operative nausea and vomiting ( ponv ) sound to be the leading cause of morbidity and discomfort among pediatric surgical patients . ponv may at least direct patients to have longer stay at hospital after surgery but some more serious consequences such as bleeding , wound dehiscence , dehydration , electrolyte disturbance and/or pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents can be resulted by severe types of ponv[2 , 3 ] . the incidence of ponv is higher in pediatric patients than in adults[2 , 4 ] . it has been reported that up to 40% of children undergoing appendicectomy who have not received any antiemetic drug may have ponv . clonidine , an 2-adrenoceptor agonist , is an effective premedicant which has been shown to decrease the incidence of ponv in children undergoing strabismus surgery[6 , 7 ] , but its efficacy for prevention of ponv after appendectomy in pediatric patients has not been studied yet . we therefore decided to evaluate the effect of oral clonidine given preoperatively on the incidence of ponv in children after appendectomy . following approval of institutional review board of medical faculty of tehran university of medical sciences and written parental consent , 60 children , with american society of anesthesiologists physical status i , ii , aged 5 - 12 years , who were scheduled for appendectomy were enrolled in this randomized double blinded clinical trial . this study was carried out at bahrami children 's hospital , tehran from february to november 2009 . we excluded patients with perforated appendicitis , history of gastrointestinal diseases , motion sickness , and unexpected cardiac or respiratory events during or after the surgery and also those patients who had received antiemetic within 24 hours before surgery . patients in clonidine group were given 4 g.kg -1 clonidine in 20 cc of apple juice and patients in control group were given only 20 cc of apple juice 1 hour before transporting to operating room . standard monitoring included electrocardiography ,...

objectiveclonidine is an 2-agonist which is used as a sedative premedication in children . there are conflicting results in the published literature about the effect of clonidine on the incidence of post operative nausea and vomiting ( ponv ) . we therefore decided to evaluate the effect of oral clonidine given preoperatively on the incidence of ponv in children after appendectomy.methodssixty children , 5 - 12 years old , classified as american society of anesthesiologists physical status i and ii , who were scheduled for appendecectomy were enrolled in this randomized double blinded clinical trial . patients were randomly assigned into two groups of 30 patients . patients in clonidine group were given 4 g.kg -1 clonidine in 20 cc of apple juice and patients in control group were given only 20 cc of apple juice 1 hour before transporting to operating room . the protocol of general anesthesia and postoperative analgesia was the same for two groups . incidence of ponv and antiemetic usage of patients were assessed during 0 - 24 hours after anesthesia.findingsthe patients characteristics were similar in two groups . patients who had received clonidine had significantly less episodes of ponv and also less rescue antiemetic usage than patients in control group.conclusionwe showed that oral clonidine at a dose of 4 g.kg -1 administered preoperatively is associated with a reduced incidence of postoperative vomiting in children who have undergone appendectomy .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the ecology of tularemia is represented by a literature that reflects the diversity of this complex zoonosis . like the literature of many other infections , the sheer volume of observations makes it difficult to organize and synthesize sets of working hypotheses for how the causative agent exists in nature . an organized understanding of tularemia ecology serves as the basis for developing public health interventions and to predict or explain changes in incidence or distribution . in addition , knowing how the agent is currently maintained in nature provides information that helps us to reconstruct its evolutionary history . we review herein features of tularemia ecology that are particularly critical and suggest lacunae that hinder us from distinguishing major themes from variations on themes . the reader is referred to excellent reviews of the subject by hopla ( 1974 ) , friend ( 2006 ) , and petersen et al . ( 2009 ) for significantly more detail on the breadth and diversity of the ecological literature . we use some basic terms and concepts in the population biology of infectious agents that help to organize our interpretation of the existing literature . maintenance refers to the life cycle of the agent : how one infection gives rise to at least one other infection . perpetuation of zoonotic infections may involve a vector , an intermediary in the life cycle that imparts directionality to the agent . hematophagous arthropods are vectors because they require blood and thus directly transport an infectious agent to a relevant host . in contrast , scalars may also maintain an agent , but there is no directionality ; copepods containing dracunculus medinensis nematodes , for example , are passively imbibed with water . vectors may support biological transmission of an agent , a process that involves replication or developmental changes . vectorial capacity ( spielman and rossignol , 1984 ) refers to the sum of vector traits that ensures that the basic reproduction number ( brn ) of an infection exceeds...

the epidemiology of tularemia has influenced , perhaps incorrectly skewed , our views on the ecology of the agent of tularemia . in particular , the central role of lagomorphs needs to be reexamined . diverse observations , some incidental , and some that are more generally reproducible , have not been synthesized so that the critical elements of the perpetuation of francisella tularensis can be identified . developing a quantitative model of the basic reproduction number of f. tularensis may require separate treatments for type a and type b given the fundamental differences in their ecology .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: assessment of left ventricular ( lv ) function is the most common and clinically relevant task in the congenital echocardiography laboratory . historically , those measurements have been estimated using m - mode ( mm ) and two - dimensional ( 2d ) echocardiography , with several limitations . strain echocardiography , on the other hand , permits the quantification of lv global and regional function , which provides new insights in different experimental and clinical scenarios . recently , lv strain derived from 3d speckle - tracking echocardiography ( 3d - ste ) has been validated against cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in children and adults . this new technique has the potential to better evaluate the lv function in neonates with congenital heart disease and to be of help in the surgical decision - making . however , to the best of our knowledge , there are no data on 3d - ste in full - term neonates to assess lv mechanics . in this study , we sought to establish the feasibility of the acquisition and analysis of 3d data sets , and to establish using 3d - ste , normal values for lv volumes , and ejection fraction ( ef ) as well as the 3d global strain ( gs ) parameters in a group of healthy neonates . all the subjects were born in our institution and were either awaiting the discharge of their mothers or presenting for their first newborn baby regular checkup . the inclusion criteria were : no history of congenital oracquired heart disease , andcompletely normal results on 2d and doppler echocardiography , with no structural defects and with normal chamber size and systolic function . no history of congenital or acquired heart disease , and completely normal results on 2d and doppler echocardiography , with no structural defects and with normal chamber size and systolic function . exclusion criteria were : structural congenital or acquired heart disease , abnormal cardiac rhythms , andhypertension and/or other acute or chronic illnesses . structural congenital or acquired heart disease ,...

aims : three - dimensional speckle - tracking echocardiography ( 3d - ste ) is a promising new technique to evaluate left ventricular ( lv ) mechanics . the feasibility and normal values of lv strain using 3d - ste have recently been established in adults and children . unfortunately , no data are available in neonates . the aims of this study were to evaluate the feasibility and establish normal values of 3d lv volumes , ejection fraction ( ef ) , and the 4 normal strains in healthy neonates.materials and methods : of 50 consecutive newborns who were delivered at our hospital or returned to their first newborn follow - up within the first 3 weeks of life , 38 babies underwent full echocardiographic evaluation , including the acquisition of at least 3 full volume data sets from the apical window , while naturally sleeping . data sets were analyzed offline . global lv longitudinal , circumferential , and radial strain , as well as 3d lv volumes and ef , were measured using 3d-ste.results:of the 50 newborns , 2 patients were excluded because of significant intra - cardiac shunts , and in another 10 subjects , parents did not give consent . at least one data set was adequate for analysis in all the remaining subjects . mean indexed lv diastolic , systolic volumes , and ef were 24.7 3.6 ml / m2 , 9.2 1.3 ml / m2 , and 63% 3.7% , respectively . normal global longitudinal , circumferential , radial , and tangential 4d strain were 20.9% 2.8% , 32.4% 3.1% , 44.3% 3.4% , and 39.7% 3.4% , respectively.conclusions:3d-ste is feasible in newborns without the needed for sedation . reference values of normal , regional , and global lv 4d strain and volumes were obtained .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: a. pereda , c. perfumo , and d. r. perez contributed to the concept and design of the study ; a. rimondi , m. angel , j. ye , t. sutton , m. dibrbora , v. olivera , and m. i. craig analyzed and interpreted the virological and molecular data ; j. cappuccio , m. quiroga , and m. machuca performed necropsies , analyzed , and interpreted the histopathological data ; a ferrero provided technical support ; a. pereda , c. perfumo , and d. r. perez revised and approved the final version of the manuscript . phylogenetic tree of hemagglutinin ( 1a ) , na ( 1b ) , and mp ( 1c ) genes . unrooted trees were generated by the neighborjoining method in 11 the paup * program . viruses characterized in this study are highlighted in bold , and swine influenza clusters are identified in colored boxes . h1n1pdm corresponds to h1n1 2009 pandemic virus , ch1n1a to classical swine h1n1 , rh1n1b to triple reassortant swine h1n1 , h1n2c to triple reassortant swine h1n2 , huh1d to humanlike swine h1 , hun1 or hun2 to humanlike swine n1 and n2 , respectively , and swn1 to swine n1 .

please cite this paper as : pereda et al . ( 2011 ) evidence of reassortment of pandemic h1n1 influenza virus in swine in argentina : are we facing the expansion of potential epicenters of influenza emergence ? influenza and other respiratory viruses 5(6 ) , 409412.in this report , we describe the occurrence of two novel swine influenza viruses ( sivs ) in pigs in argentina . these viruses are the result of two independent reassortment events between the h1n1 pandemic influenza virus ( h1n1pdm ) and humanlike sivs , showing the constant evolution of influenza viruses at the human swine interface and the potential health risk of h1n1pdm as it appears to be maintained in the swine population . it must be noted that because of the lack of information regarding the circulation of sivs in south america , we can not discard the possibility that ancestors of the h1n1pdm or other sivs have been present in this part of the world . more importantly , these findings suggest an everexpanding geographic range of potential epicenters of influenza emergence with public health risks .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the older population is increasing in sweden,1 as it is in the rest of europe.2 elderly people are and will be affected by multiple chronic conditions that is , multimorbidity3 and several mental disorders,4 even when dementia disorders are not taken into account.5 multimorbidity is associated with mental health problems among elderly people6 and is often treated with polypharmacy.7 it seems likely that future home health care will increase among older people8 and that a high number of community - dwelling seniors with multimorbidity will become a challenge in swedish elder care9 and among those who provide home help services and home health care.10 in the present study , seniors with multimorbidity are referred to as clients or seniors because they are not defined as patients in this context . mental health problems among seniors have become a major public health issue in sweden11,12 and in other high - income countries.13 the prevalence of mental disorders in seniors who live in communities is high , and may affect 30%50% of this population.14,15 multiple factors associated with psychogeriatric problems have been studied among older community patients,16 and for instance , depression has been related to being female , being unmarried , and to having somatic disease , functional disability , and a smaller social network.17,18 further , anxiety symptoms have been associated with the female sex , chronic disease , and functional limitations.18 seniors with multimorbidity are at risk of developing a generally low quality of life,19 psychological distress,3 and depressive disorders.20,21 nevertheless , seniors with multimorbidity may lack access to health - promoting dialogues that could facilitate mental health.22 the increase in the senior population implies changing needs , indicating that many health care systems will face challenges regarding caring for seniors with mental disorders.23 the organizations that provide care and services to the very old vary between countries , depending on the structure of...

introductionelderly people with multiple chronic conditions , or multimorbidity , are at risk of developing poor mental health . these seniors often remain in their homes with support from home care assistants ( hcas ) . mental health promotion by hcas needs to be studied further because they may be among the first to observe changes in clients mental health status.aimto describe hcas perspectives on detecting mental health problems and promoting mental health among homebound seniors with multimorbidity.methodswe applied a descriptive qualitative study design using semi - structured interviews . content analyses were performed on five focus group interviews conducted in 2014 with 26 hcas.resultsmost hcas stated that they were experienced in caring for clients with mental health problems such as anxiety , depression , sleep problems , and high alcohol consumption . the hcas mentioned as causes , or risk factors , multiple chronic conditions , feelings of loneliness , and social isolation . the findings reveal that continuity of care and seniors own thoughts and perceptions were essential to detecting mental health problems . observation , collaboration , and social support emerged as important means of detecting mental health problems and promoting mental health.conclusionthe hcas had knowledge of risk factors , but they seemed insecure about which health professionals had the primary responsibility for mental health . they also seemed to have detected early signs of mental health problems , even though good personal knowledge of the client and continuity in home visits were crucial to do so . when it came to mental health promotion , the suggestions related to the aim of ending social isolation , decreasing feelings of loneliness , and increasing physical activity . the results indicate that the hcas seemed dependent on supervision by district nurses and on care managers decisions to support the needed care , to schedule assignments related to the detection of mental health problems , and...

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: since earliest times , food and nutrition have always remained one of the darkest areas and the world has failed to tackle the situation completely . the 1996 world food summit brought back to center stage the issue of hunger and food insecurity as both cause and effect of poverty and slow growth . in the wake of this new push , reducing hunger and food insecurity also became one of the millennium development goals , bringing with it the necessity by individual countries to measure progress in achieving the proposed targets . a well - nourished population is important to a country 's long - term development and is a desirable outcome objective in itself . unfortunately , the levels of child malnutrition in india are very high - 36.4% of urban indian children are underweight , according to the national family health survey 3 ( nfhs3 ) . chronic energy deficiency in a similar proportion of adults suggests perpetuation of childhood malnutrition into adulthood . the nutritional status of an individual is the outcome of a complex interaction of a broad range of host and environmental factors , the latter encompassing physical , biological , and especially sociocultural ones . it is thought that if people have access to sufficient quantity and variety of foods , they will meet their nutritional needs . an inadequate diet , poor in both quality and quantity has been one of the reasons for high levels of malnutrition in children . in most of the settings , household is the basic unit for food consumption , and if there is sufficient food , individual members of the household can consume a diet with the recommended nutrient densities and meet their specific requirements . assessing dietary adequacy in terms of quality and quantity at the household level is , therefore , important . adequacy implies that that the food must satisfy the dietary needs of every individual , taking into account age , gender , body size , and physical activity level . to define quantitatively , nutrient adequacy is the level of intake of an...

introduction : nutrient adequacy is the level of intake of an essential nutrient in relation to the nutrient requirement for adequate health , which is expressed as the percentage of recommended dietary allowance . to develop an effective nationwide preventive program to combat malnutrition , it is necessary not only to assess the nature and magnitude of the problem of nutrient inadequacy but to identify factors affecting it especially at the household level.objective:to estimate the prevalence of nutrient adequacy in a sample of households in a rural area of darjeeling district and to find out the factors associated with nutrient adequacy.materials and methods : a community - based cross - sectional study was carried out from january 2014 to december 2014 in 821 households of darjeeling district , india . the major dependent variable used in this study was the mean nutrient adequacy ratio of a household and the independent variables were number of family members , number of under - five children in the family , literacy of head of the family , literacy of the wife of the head of the family , income of the family , and percentage expenditure on food.results:the prevalence of nutrient adequate households was found to be 35.3% among the study households . it was observed that the percentage expenditure on food had the highest contribution toward nutrient adequacy , followed by number of under - five children in the family and literacy of the wife of the head of the family . undernutrition was found to be prevalent in 56.6% of the households.conclusion:majority of the study population had a diet less than the required amount and expectedly , undernutrition was also present in huge proportions .

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

using exome sequencing and a variant prioritisation strategy that focuses on loss - of - function variants , we identified biallelic , loss - of - function cep57 mutations as a cause of constitutional mosaic aneuploidies . cep57 is a centrosomal protein and is involved in nucleating and stabilizing microtubules . our data indicate that these and/or additional functions of cep57 are crucial in maintaining correct chromosomal number during cell division .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the protocol was approved by the institutional review boards for human studies of baylor college of medicine , the harris county hospital district , and the university of washington . all kpd patients were identified by acute presentation with an episode of dka , defined by the presence of all of the following : anion gap 15 , blood ph < 7.30 , serum bicarbonate 17 mmol / l , serum glucose > 200 mg / dl , serum ketones 5.2 the a kpd patients were identified by the absence of gad65 , islet antigen-2 , or znt8 autoantibodies , measured in sera by quantitative radioligand binding assays with recent modifications ( 8,9 ) . as previously described ( 1 ) , kpd patients are classified as a if the autoantibody index for all three autoantibodies are below the ethnic - specific 98th percentile . patients were classified as + or based on the presence or absence of -cell functional reserve , measured by fasting serum c - peptide concentration and c - peptide response to glucagon 14 weeks after resolution of ketoacidosis . cutoffs defining -cell functional reserve were as previously established and longitudinally validated using receiver - operator characteristic curve analysis ( 1 ) ; briefly , + status is defined by fasting c - peptide > 1 ng / ml and peak c - peptide after glucagon stimulation > 1.5 ng / ml . provoked a+ kpd patients were defined by the presence of a clinically defined precipitating factor associated with or immediately preceding the index dka episode ( 4 ) . we have previously shown that the phenotype of provoked a+ kpd is characterized by progressive loss of -cell function after recovery from the index dka episode , no sex predominance , inability to discontinue insulin or relapsing to insulin requirement after a brief period off insulin , and an increased frequency of type 1 diabetes - associated hla class ii alleles dqb1 * 0302 and drb1 * 04 ( 4 ) . unprovoked a+ kpd patients were defined by the absence of a clinically defined precipitating factor associated with or immediately preceding the index...

objectiveketosis - prone diabetes ( kpd ) is characterized by diabetic ketoacidosis ( dka ) in patients lacking typical features of type 1 diabetes . a validated classification scheme for kpd includes two autoantibody - negative ( a ) phenotypic forms : a ( lean , early onset , lacking -cell functional reserve ) and a+ ( obese , late onset , with substantial -cell functional reserve after the index episode of dka ) . recent longitudinal analysis of a large kpd cohort revealed that the a+ phenotype includes two distinct subtypes distinguished by the index dka episode having a defined precipitant ( provoked , with progressive -cell function loss over time ) or no precipitant ( unprovoked , with sustained -cell functional reserve ) . these three a kpd subtypes are characterized by absence of humoral islet autoimmune markers , but a role for cellular islet autoimmunity is unknown.research design and methodsislet - specific t - cell responses and the percentage of proinflammatory ( cd14+cd16 + ) blood monocytes were measured in a ( n = 7 ) , provoked a+ ( n = 15 ) , and unprovoked a+ ( n = 13 ) kpd patients . genotyping was performed for type 1 diabetes associated hla class ii alleles.resultsprovoked a+ and a kpd patients manifested stronger islet - specific t - cell responses ( p < 0.03 ) and higher percentages of proinflammatory cd14+cd16 + monocytes ( p < 0.01 ) than unprovoked a+ kpd patients . a significant relationship between type 1 diabetes hla class ii protective alleles and negative t - cell responses was observed.conclusionsprovoked a+ kpd and a kpd are associated with a high frequency of cellular islet autoimmunity and proinflammatory monocyte populations . in contrast , unprovoked a+ kpd lacks both humoral and cellular islet autoimmunity .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer - related deaths in the united states . even after 30 years of improved therapeutic approaches , the 5-year mortality of lung cancer remains alarmingly high at 86%.1 the emerging application of pharmacogenomics offers the potential to identify drugs and drug combinations in the treatment of lung cancer according to an individual s unique genetic makeup . a series of randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that survival of patients with stage iii or iv non - small - cell lung cancer ( nsclc ) is improved with the use of chemotherapy compared to best supportive care.2,3 among the initial chemotherapeutic agents that demonstrated reproducible activity in nsclc was the non - classical alkylating agent cisplatin . more recently , newer agents such as gemcitabine and taxanes have been combined with cisplatin ; however , the ability to predict which patients are likely to benefit from chemotherapy remains a challenging dilemma with no uniformly reliable clinical predictors other than performance status ( ps ) and weight loss . several studies have linked cisplatin resistance to high expression of the dna repair gene excision repair cross - complementation group 1 ( ercc1).47 ercc1 is 1 of 16 genes that encodes the nucleotide excision repair complex . ercc1 is a nucleotide excision repair enzyme playing an important role in dna repair mechanism that removes the therapeutic platinum dna adducts from the tumor dna . nsclc patients with surgically removed early stage tumors , who received no further therapy , had a better survival if their tumors were ercc1 positive.8 these studies also have emphasized that patients with lowest levels of mrna expression of ercc1 tend to have better response to cisplatin - based therapy . this indicates the importance of considering ercc1 mrna expression as a predictive marker for the effectiveness of cisplatin - based chemotherapy . in addition to ercc1 , there are several other pharmacogenomic markers that could have prognostic impact...

introductionperformance status ( ps ) is the only known clinical predictor of outcome in patients with advanced non - small - cell lung cancer ( nsclc ) , although pharmacogenomic markers may also correlate with outcome . the aim of our study was to correlate clinical and pharmacogenomic measures with overall survival.methodsthis was an irb approved , retrospective study in which the medical records of 50 patients with advanced nsclc from 19982008 were reviewed , and gender , race , ps , and chemotherapy regimens were documented . stromal expression of pharmacogenomic markers ( vegfr , ercc1 , 14 - 3 - 3 , pakt , and pten ) was measured . clinical factors and pharmacogenomics markers were compared to overall survival using a cox proportional hazards model.resultsforty patients received platinum - based therapy . median age was 65 years . improved ps , female gender , and gemcitabine therapy were significantly associated with longer overall survival ( p = 0.004 , p = 0.04 , and p = 0.003 , respectively ) . age was not associated with survival . caucasians had better overall survival in comparison to african americans with median survival of 14.8 months versus 10.4 months ( p = 0.1 ) . patients treated with platinum - based therapy had better survival of 15 months versus 8 months for non - platinum based therapy ( p = 0.01 ) . there was no significant association between any of the pharmacogenomics markers and overall survival other than in patients treated with platinum , in whom ercc1 negativity was strongly associated with longer survival ( p = 0.007).conclusionercc1 negativity with platinum therapy , gemcitabine therapy , good ps , and female gender all correlated with improved overall survival in patients with advanced nsclc .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: indeed , patients with dementia often have neuropsychiatric symptoms collectively termed behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia ( bpsd).1 depression is quite common in elderly patients with dementia.2,3 aggressive behaviors that cause great difficulties in the social functioning of patients are also common , significantly increasing rates of nursing home placement.4,5 verbal and physical aggression could be strictly connected with depressive symptoms,68 but the relationship between depression , aggressive behavior , and dementia is not well defined . the objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptoms and progressive cognitive decline by assessing cognitive impairment , depressive symptoms , and aggressive behavior in a sample of elderly nursing home residents . increased knowledge of the interaction between aggression , cognitive impairment , and depressive symptoms could lead to the identification of specific strategies in the management of health care for elderly patients . the study sample consisted of 201 men and women over the age of 65 years who were residing in one of three different care homes for the elderly . informed consent to take part in the study was provided by each subject or , in some cases , by a subject s legal guardian . the authors collected the subjects sociodemographic and health status data from medical records and through physical examination , with a particular focus on medical comorbidity . the authors also reported the functional status and psychopathologic symptoms using the activities of daily living scale and the neuropsychiatric inventory . for the purpose of the present study , each subject was evaluated using the mini - mental state examination ( mmse),9 the geriatric depression scale ( gds),10 and the modified overt aggression scale ( moas).11 the mmse was developed as a brief screening tool to provide a quantitative assessment of cognitive impairment and to record cognitive changes over time . typically , these are...

patients with dementia often have neuropsychiatric symptoms . the objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptoms and progressive cognitive decline by assessing cognitive impairment , depressive symptoms , and aggressive behavior in a sample of elderly subjects . the study sample consisted of 201 subjects admitted to nursing homes . for the purpose of the present study each subject was evaluated using the mini - mental state examination , the geriatric depression scale , and the modified overt aggression scale . the results show that aggressive behavior and depressive symptoms are associated with progressive cognitive decline in elderly subjects . early assessment of these conditions can promote rational therapeutic strategies that may improve the quality of life and delay institutionalization for elderly patients .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: during july 2011april 2014 , a total of 45 blood samples were collected in edta - containing collection tubes from wild japanese macaques in aomori ( n = 25 ) , yamagata ( n = 5 ) , and wakayama ( n = 15 ) prefectures in japan . the animals were captured by licensed trappers , in accordance with the wildlife protection and proper hunting act , by using large hand - made cage traps and commercial cage traps ( no . the physical conditions of each animal were recorded before they were euthanized , according to the guidelines of the japanese veterinary medical association . freeze - thawed blood samples were spread onto chocolate agar plates ( 8) for isolation of bartonella spp . and incubated at 35c under 5% co2 for up to 4 weeks . bartonella - specific pcrs that targeted the glta ( 9 ) and rpob ( 10 ) genes and the 16s23s rdna intergenic transcribed spacer ( its ) regions ( 11 ) were used for identification of bartonella isolates ; genomic dna of b. alsatica strain ibs 382 and nuclease - free distilled water were used as positive and negative controls for the pcrs , respectively . bartonella isolates were obtained from 6 ( 13.3% ) of 45 japanese macaques ; 1 ( 4.0% ) of 25 macaques in aomori , 1 ( 20.0% ) of 5 in yamagata , and 4 ( 26.7% ) of 15 in wakayama prefectures . the bacteremia levels in the macaques ranged from 5.0 10 to 3.7 10 cfu / ml . the dna sequences of all 30 isolates were identical in the glta ( 338 bp ) , rpob ( 825 bp ) , and its ( 1,297 bp ) regions ; the sequences were registered in genbank / european nucleotide archive in embl , and ddbj under accession nos . lc031777 ( glta ) , lc031778 ( rpob ) , and lc031779 ( its ) . blast searches ( http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast.cgi ) indicated that the dna sequences of the isolates had the highest degree of similarity ( 100% for glta and rpob , 99.5% for its ) with those of b. quintana rm11 strain from rhesus macaques . subsequently , mlst analysis with 9 loci ( 12 ) revealed that 6 representative strains ( mf11 , mf31 , mf101 , mf111 , mf191...

bartonella quintana bacteremia was detected in 6 ( 13.3% ) of 45 wild - caught japanese macaques ( macaca fuscata ) . multilocus sequence typing of the isolates revealed that japanese macaques were infected with a new and specific b. quintana sequence type . free - ranging japanese macaques thus represent another natural reservoir of b. quintana .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: as described in detail below , we first estimated the exposure - response relationship between observed daily mortality and temperature data in manhattan . we then obtained downscaled future temperature projections from sixteen climate models and two greenhouse gas emissions scenarios for manhattan . these two inputs were combined to estimate future mortality related to future temperatures , which were compared to temperature - related mortality in a climatalogical baseline period . we separately accounted for cold - season and warm - season mortality , and also computed net annual changes . historical data on daily deaths covering the 1982 1999 period for manhattan were obtained from the us national center for health statistics ( nchs ) . daily death counts for all internal causes ( icd-9 codes 0799.9 for 19821998 and icd-10 codes a00-r99 for 1999 ) were pooled , excluding accidental causes . we chose this definition for consistency with previous studies ; however this would tend to underestimate heat - related mortality since heat stroke is an daily tmax data were obtained from the national climatic data center for 1982 to 1999 at the central park station . a statistical model ( see supplemental equation 1 ) was developed using poisson general linear regression with log daily non - accidental death counts as the outcome variable and the following predictors : a spline function of daily tmax with 3 degrees of freedom , a natural spline of time with 7 degrees of freedom per year , and a day of week indicator variable . this approach was similar to that used to study temperature for 11 eastern us communities . sensitivity analyses investigated potential confounding by ozone , pm10 , dewpoint temperature and influenza epidemics . future temperature projections were developed using downscaled outputs from 16 global scale general circulation models ( gcms ) used in the intergovernmental panel on climate change fourth assessment report , in conjunction with two future greenhouse gas emissions scenarios . the...

global average temperatures have been rising for the past half - century , and the warming trend has accelerated in recent decades1 . further warming is expected over the next few decades , with significant regional variations . these warming trends will likely result in more frequent , intense and persistent periods of hot temperatures in summer , and generally higher temperatures in winter . daily death counts in cities increase markedly when temperatures reach levels that are very high relative to what is normal in a given location24 . relatively cold temperatures also appear to carry risk2,4 . rising temperatures may result in more heat - related mortality but may also reduce cold - related mortality , and the net impact on annual mortality remains uncertain . here we use 16 downscaled global climate models and two emissions scenarios to estimate current and future seasonal patterns in temperature - related mortality in manhattan , new york . all 32 projections yielded warm season increases and cold season decreases in temperature - related mortality , with positive net annual temperature - related deaths in all cases . monthly analyses showed that the largest percentage increases may occur in may and september . these results suggest that , over a range of models and scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions , increases in heat - related mortality could outweigh reductions in cold - related mortality , with shifting seasonal patterns .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: polyamines ( pas ) are small positively charged aliphatic molecules ubiquitous in almost all life forms . in plants , spermine ( spm ) , spermidine ( spd ) , and their precursor putrescine ( put ) are the major pas present in cells at micromolar - to - millimolar concentrations . pas have been implicated in a wide range of life processes in plants including seed germination , growth , floral initiation , floral development , pathogen defenses , and environmental stress responses [ 24 ] . following the classic report of richards and coleman on pa accumulation in potassium starved leaves , many investigations have demonstrated the physiological relevance of pas in response to diverse environmental stresses , including heavy metal stress , so2 pollution , osmotic stress , chilling stress , drought stress , ph stress , nutritional stress , biotic stress , and heat stress ( reviewed by [ 4 , 68 ] ) . although the explicit physiological role of the increase in pa remains obscure , exogenous addition of pas to plants under stress conditions has been reported to alleviate stress damage or to increase tolerance to adverse environments [ 6 , 8 ] . a recent study suggested crosstalk with or direct involvement of the similarly multifunctional molecule nitric oxide ( no ) in a pa - mediated response . regardless of the fact that underlying mechanism of its action remains unclear , it is evident that pas are an integral part of plant stress responses . plants , owing to their sessile nature , are compelled to endure stress due to perpetual environmental changes . they do so through morphological , biochemical , or physiological adjustments . under stressful conditions , the tiny globally - distributed water ferns of the genus azolla respond through a unique rapid loss of their roots , a phenomenon termed rapid root abscission [ 1113 ] . such shedding sets its fronds free from root - entangled mats and facilitates their dispersion to a potentially better environment . the phenomenon is thus considered to be an important...

floating ferns of the genus azolla detach their roots under stress conditions , a unique adaptive response termed rapid root abscission . we found that azolla pinnata plants exhibited dose - dependent rapid root abscission in response to the polyamines spermidine and spermine after a substantial time lag ( > 20 min ) . the duration of the time lag decreased in response to high ph and high temperature whereas high light intensity increased the time lag and markedly lowered the rate of abscission . the oxidation products of polyamines , 1,3-diaminopropane , -alanine and hydrogen peroxide all failed to initiate root abscission , and hydroxyethyl hydrazine , an inhibitor of polyamine oxidase , did not inhibit spermine - induced root abscission . exposure of a. pinnata to the polyamines did not result in detectable release of no and did not affect nitrite - dependent no production . the finding of polyamine - induced rapid root abscission provides a facile assay for further study of the mode of action of polyamines in plant stress responses .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: they include low dietary intake , conditions associated with decreased absorption or increased urinary phosphate excretion , and conditions associated with shifts in phosphate from the extracellular to intracellular fluid . the latter include various cellular uptake syndromes , in which hypophosphatemia develops as a result of phosphate consumption by rapidly proliferating cells.1,2 the association between hypophosphatemia and cytokines has recently been investigated , and some authors have reported that hypophosphatemia can be induced directly by certain cytokines.3,4 the eshap ( etoposide , methylprednisolone , cytarabine , and cisplatin ) protocol is an effective treatment for hodgkin s lymphoma,5,6 and the effect of this protocol on serum electrolytes has been reported previously in some individual observational studies . other electrolyte imbalances are seen mainly in patients receiving cisplatin . in a study published in 2012 , there was a significant decrease in serum electrolytes including magnesium , potassium , phosphorus , and calcium , following use of this agent.7 hypophosphatemia induced by eshap is not well described , and is rarely considered as a side effect of the chemotherapeutic agents in this protocol . herein , we report a case of severe hypophosphatemia concomitant with administration of the first cycle of the eshap protocol to a patient with hodgkin s lymphoma . a 51-year - old woman ( weight 55 kg , height 160 cm ) with a history of hypertension , hepatitis c infection , chronic liver disease with ascites , esophageal varices , and mild renal impairment , was admitted electively to the national centre for cancer care and research , doha , qatar , on april 22 , 2012 to receive her first cycle of salvage eshap protocol for treatment of recently relapsed hodgkin s lymphoma . her medications consisted of entecavir 1 mg once daily , propranolol 20 mg twice daily , spironolactone 50 mg once daily , allopurinol 100 mg once daily , furosemide 40 mg once daily , and lactulose 30 ml twice daily...

the effect of the eshap ( etoposide , methylprednisolone , cytarabine , cisplatin ) salvage protocol on serum electrolytes has been previously reported by individual observational studies . the most commonly described electrolyte affected by the eshap protocol is magnesium . in addition , hypophosphatemia has been studied and reported as a complication of cisplatin therapy , although it is usually asymptomatic . this is a case report of a 51-year - old woman with relapsed hodgkin s lymphoma who developed severe hypophosphatemia following administration of the first cycle of the eshap protocol . the patient started to develop gradually decreasing phosphate levels 2 weeks after receiving chemotherapy , which needed to be corrected by phosphate supplementation . this case report raises concern regarding hypophosphatemia as a possible side effect of the eshap protocol and points to a need for close monitoring , taking into consideration vitamin d levels , urinary phosphate excretion , parathyroid hormone levels , and arterial blood gas analysis to rule out other contributing factors . health care providers should be made aware of this possible toxicity . critical monitoring of phosphate levels and considering supplementation is warranted with the eshap protocol , especially when it is used in combination with granulocyte colony - stimulating factor and diuretics , to prevent such possible hypophosphatemia . further investigations may be required to confirm and evaluate the significance of this type of toxicity .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease characterized by loss of bone mass and disruption of bone microarchitecture , and consequently increases the risk of fracture3,5,11,14 ) . it is well known that estrogen plays a fundamental role in skeletal growth and bone homeostasis1 - 3,6 ) . this is of particular importance in postmenopausal women , whose estrogen levels are naturally lowered , and in whom the incidence of osteoporosis is high , because a rapid decrease in estrogens in this population is the predominant cause of the imbalance between bone formation and bone resorption12 ) . although no single animal model precisely mimics the human condition of osteoporosis , appropriate animal models can provide information on bone quality and structure not obtainable during clinical trials . ovariectomy ( ovx ) provides the most popular model for studying events associated with postmenopausal osteoporosis with estrogen deficiency3,5,12,16 ) , and it has been well established that ovariectomy elicits bone loss and increased bone turnover in rats3,5,7 - 9,11,12,16 ) . thus , ovx rat models of osteoporosis can mimic conditions in postmenopausal women , and are suitable for the evaluations of potential therapeutics designed to prevent or treat osteoporosis7 - 9,16 ) . in the present study , in an effort to devise a reliable and reproducible ovx rat model of osteoporosis , we performed histomorphometric analyses of the lumbar spine using micro - computed tomography ( ct ) scans and evaluated changes in serum bone turnover markers after ovariectomy in rats . all animal experiments were performed in accordance with the animal care guidelines issued by the national institute health , and were approved by the institutional animal care committee at kyungpook national university . twelve female sprague - dawley rats ( 11 weeks old , body weight 190 - 210 g ) were purchased from samtako bio inc . ( osan , korea ) and acclimated to conditions for one week before the experiment . animals were housed in an air - conditioned...

objectivethe purpose of this study was to verify the appropriateness of ovariectomized rats as the osteoporosis animal model.methodstwelve female sprague - dawley rats underwent a sham operation ( the sham group ) or bilateral ovariectomy [ the ovariectomy ( ovx ) group ] . eight weeks after operations , serum biochemical markers of bone turnover were analyzed ; osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase , which are sensitive biochemical markers of bone formation , and c - terminal telopeptide fragment of type i collagen c - terminus ( ctx ) , which is a sensitive biochemical marker of bone resorption . bone histomorphometric parameters and microarchitectural properties of 4th lumbar vertebrae were determined by micro - computed tomographic ( ct ) scan.resultsthe ovx group showed on average 75.4% higher osteocalcin and 72.5% higher ctx levels than the sham group , indicating increased bone turnover . micro - ct analysis showed significantly lower bone mineral density ( bmd ) ( p=0.005 ) and cortical bmd ( p=0.021 ) in the ovx group . furthermore , the ovx group was found to have a significantly lower trabecular bone volume fraction ( p=0.002).conclusionour results showed that bone turnover was significantly increased and bone mass was significantly decreased 8 weeks after ovariectomy in rats . thus , we propose that the ovariectomized rat model be considered a reproducible and reliable model of osteoporosis .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: dacron arterial grafts are widely used in thoracic aortic replacement , but few cases of non - anastomotic aneurysmal dilatation or rupture have been reported . in most cases that have been reported , knitted , rather than woven , we report the clinically successful result of thoracic endovascular repair ( tevar ) of the late rupture of a woven dacron graft . the dacron graft had been implanted in the patient s descending thoracic and upper abdominal aorta 20 years previously . a 56-year - old man with a descending thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm underwent descending thoracic and upper abdominal aorta replacement with a hemashield 20-mm woven dacron graft ( meadox medicals inc . , he was followed up as an outpatient , and no adverse events were noted until 2009 , when he presented with sudden - onset chest pain and severe dyspnea . at that time , chest computed tomography ( ct ) revealed a massive right hemothorax , a large pseudoaneurysm around the implanted graft just above the diaphragm level , and marked contrast medium extravasation from the graft ( fig . 1 ) . the patient underwent an emergency open thoracotomy , in which a disruption was found at the site of the anastomosis between the dacron graft and lumbar intercostal arteries . the disrupted site was repaired with 2 layers of running sutures , and the graft was wrapped with the calcified aneurysmal sac . in 2012 , the patient presented with back pain , abdominal pain , and indigestion . a follow - up chest ct revealed that the size of the aneurysm in the descending aorta had increased in comparison with the findings of the previous ct examination . dye collection in the space between the graft and native aneurysmal sac was also observed , and was suspected to be indicative of a late rupture of the dacron graft itself ( fig . the rupture was unrelated to the previous anastomosis or disrupted site . due to the high morbidity and mortality associated with reoperation , we decided to perform thoracic endovascular stent therapy as an alternative to...

the intrinsic structural failure of a dacron graft resulting from the loss of structural integrity of the graft fabric can cause late graft complications . late non - anastomotic rupture has traditionally been treated surgically via open thoracotomy . we report a case of the successful use of thoracic endovascular repair to treat a dacron graft rupture in the descending aorta . the rupture occurred 20 years after the graft had been placed . two stent grafts were placed at the proximal portion of the surgical graft , covering almost its entire length .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: it was not until the year 1900 , when karl landsteiner at the university of vienna , discovered why some blood transfusions were successful while others could be deadly . landsteiner discovered the abo blood group system by mixing the red cells and serum of each of his staff . he demonstrated that the serum of some people agglutinated the red cells of other . from these early experiments , he identified three types , called a , b and c ( c was later to be re - named o for the german the fourth less frequent blood group ab , was discovered a year later . in 1930 , landsteiner received the nobel prize in physiology and medicine for his work ( 1 ) . the gene that determines human abo blood type is located on chromosome 9 ( 9q34.1 ) and is called abo glycosyltransferase . the abo locus has three main allelic forms : a , b , and o , as mentioned above and each of them is responsible for the production of its glycoprotein . it is therefore the combination of alleles that are inherited from parents that determines which glycoproteins ( antigens ) are found on persons blood cells and thereby their abo blood type ( 1 ) . as investigations have demonstrated on monkeys ( table 1 ) , human blood groups are very old genetic indicators which have evolved during several million years ( 2 ) . based on the primary races hypothesis , it was thought that in the three major races of man , blood groups a in europe , b in asian , and finally o in south america have been emerged and gradually due to the migration and mixing of the races , became the present situation . but we know that in each continent , the isolated populations are seen that have completely different blood groups . for example , there is relatively high prevalence of blood group o in siberian inhabitants ; also this blood group is very common in some areas of switzerland ( 3 ) . according to another hypothesis , the emergence of all blood groups a and b and their subgroups , are resulted from successive mutations , from a basic and common blood group , which is...

the evolution of human blood groups , without doubt , has a history as old as man himself . there are at least three hypotheses about the emergence and mutation of human blood groups . global distribution pattern of blood groups depends on various environmental factors , such as disease , climate , altitude , humidity etc . in this survey , the collection of main blood groups abo and rh , along with some minor groups , are presented . several investigations of blood groups from iran , particularly a large sampling on 291857 individuals from iran , including the main blood groups abo and rh , as well as minor blood groups such as duffy , lutheran , kell , kp , kidd , and xg , have been reviewed .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: homogeneous gold catalysis is a relatively new field of research that became popular in the early years of this century . although there were a few scattered papers describing reactions of aromatic compounds with gold salts , the first signals of the synthetic potential of gold in homogeneous catalysis came with the work of teles and tanaka on the addition of alcohols and water to alkynes . we focus on the developments of synthetic methods that were inspired on our initial studies of platinum(ii)-catalyzed reactions and , in particular , on the multifaceted nature of cyclopropyl metal carbenes , key electrophilic intermediates formed by the activation of alkynes in functionalized 1,n - enynes and related substrates . inspired by the seminal work of the group of trost on the electrophilic activation of enynes using palladium(ii ) complexes as catalysts , which was followed by related work by murai and chatani using ruthenium(ii ) and by the synthesis of phenols by intramolecular reactions of furans with alkynes developed by hashmi , we initially examined the intramolecular reaction of allylsilanes and allylstannanes with alkynes , discovering that ptcl2 was the best catalyst , although palladium(ii ) , ruthenium(ii ) , and silver(i ) salts and complexes could also be used . several other groups had almost concurrently found that platinum(ii ) also catalyzed the skeletal rearrangement of 1,6-enynes and other cycloisomerizations under relatively mild conditions . we also found that ptcl2 was an excellent catalyst for the addition of water and alcohols ( hydroxy- and alkoxycyclization ) to 1,6-enynes such as 1a d , a process that proceeds stereospecifically ( scheme 1 ) . although these reactions proceed by an exo - dig pathway , the alternative endo - dig cyclization mode was also observed in other cases . the formation of five- or six - membered ring compounds 2a c or 3 , respectively , was rationalized by the competitive opening of a common intermediate...

cycloisomerizations of 1,n - enynes catalyzed by gold(i ) proceed via electrophilic species with a highly distorted cyclopropyl gold(i ) carbene - like structure , which can react with different nucleophiles to form a wide variety of products by attack at the cyclopropane or the carbene carbons . particularly important are reactions in which the gold(i ) carbene reacts with alkenes to form cyclopropanes either intra- or intermolecularly . in the absence of nucleophiles , 1,n - enynes lead to a variety of cycloisomerized products including those resulting from skeletal rearrangements . reactions proceeding through cyclopropyl gold(i ) carbene - like intermediates are ideally suited for the bioinspired synthesis of terpenoid natural products by the selective activation of the alkyne in highly functionalized enynes or polyenynes .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: we describe here a method that can rapidly and accurately compute the potentials of mean force ( pmfs ) between spherical univalent ions in water . the pmf between an ion a and ion b represents the reversible work ( as a function of distance between the two ions , r ) , averaged over all the configurations of the surrounding solvent , needed to bring a and b from infinite separation to a distance r. pmfs are central to many solvation processes . for example , some pairs of ions form a stable contact pair or salt bridge ; others form a stable solvent - separated pair and have intervening bridging water molecules . the pmf is relevant to understanding the solubilities of salts in water , the equilibria and dynamics when a drug molecule approaches and binds to a protein binding site , and how some parts of a protein molecule approach other parts as the protein molecule folds . currently , the gold standard for computing the pmfs between large molecules such as are typical in biology is to use explicit - solvent simulations with semiempirical force fields . however , these simulations are often computationally too expensive for many of the calculations that would be of practical interest . even in the case of various sampling techniques have been introduced to mitigate the computational expense : constraints , umbrella sampling , and weighted histogram methods , for example . on the other hand , treating water explicitly in analytical theories is challenging , because of the need to properly account for the orientation ( angular ) effects of water . for simple salt solutions , integral - equation theories often predict qualitatively correct trends but not quantitative details . an alternative is to use implicit - solvent models ( such as poisson boltzmann ( pb ) or generalized born ( gb ) ) , in which the solvent is approximated as a dielectric continuum . implicit - solvent models have the advantage of computational speed : a pmf costs around 100 h of md...

we perform extensive molecular dynamics ( md ) simulations between pairs of ions of various diameters ( 25.5 in increments of 0.5 ) and charge ( + 1 or 1 ) interacting in explicit water ( tip3p ) under ambient conditions . we extract their potentials of mean force ( pmfs ) . we develop an interpolation scheme , called i - pmf , that is capable of capturing the full set of pmfs for arbitrary combinations of ion sizes ranging from 2 to 5.5 . the advantage of the interpolation process is computational cost . whereas it can take 100 h to simulate each pmf by md , we can compute an equivalently accurate i - pmf in seconds . this process may be useful for rapid and accurate calculation of the strengths of salt bridges and the effects of bridging waters in biomolecular simulations . we also find that our data is consistent with collins law of matching affinities of ion solubilities : small small or large large ion pairs are poorly soluble in water , whereas small large are highly soluble .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the approval of five new treatments for metastatic castrate - resistant prostate cancer ( mcrpc ) within the last 5 years has been an unprecedented milestone in prostate cancer treatment [ figure 1 ] . not only have these drugs successfully changed the therapeutic landscape for this disease but at the same time these challenges include the identification and integration of novel blood - based biomarkers , sequencing or combination of the androgen - receptor ( ar ) targeting drugs , use of early chemotherapy intervention , and more recently , the role of genomic profiling in disease prognosis and treatment . while clinical trials remain the backbone of any drug under development , their role is pivotal towards bringing novel approaches earlier into the clinical arena . the introduction of the first autologous immune - based cellular therapy , sipuleucel - t has led to a change in the metastatic treatment paradigm ; despite a survival benefit , the lack of a robust antitumor effect has made this agent less appealing . overall , there are many challenges that immune therapies bring to the treatment tableau , and it remains unclear whether prostate is in fact an ideal target for such approaches . while the prevailing standard of care for patients with metastatic disease remains hormonal therapy with a gnrh agonist or antagonist , with or without an antiandrogen , those patients who become castration resistant have multiple options including the usual attempt at antiandrogen withdrawal . as such , patients the same observations are true for patients currently undergoing treatment with either steroids or the ar targeting drugs . patients who have failed these modalities could be offered immunologic therapy , clinical trials , or chemotherapy with recent data suggesting the benefits of early intervention with chemotherapy at the time of diagnosis of metastatic disease . the united kingdom - led stampede trial confirmed the observations of sweeney et al . and found that adding docetaxel chemotherapy to standard...

introduction : prostate cancer remains a challenge as a target for immunological approaches . the approval of the first cell - based immune therapy , sipuleucel - t for prostate cancer introduced prostate cancer as a solid tumor with the potential to be influenced by the immune system.methods:we reviewed articles on immunological management of prostate cancer and challenges that lie ahead for such strategies.results:treatments have focused on the identification of novel cell surface antigens thought to be unique to prostate cancer . these include vaccines against carbohydrate and blood group antigens , xenogeneic and naked dna vaccines , and pox viruses used as prime - boost or checkpoint inhibitors . no single vaccine construct to date has resulted in a dramatic antitumor effect . the checkpoint inhibitor , anti - ctla-4 has resulted in several long - term remissions , but phase iii trials have not demonstrated an antitumor effect or survival benefit.conclusions:multiple clinical trials suggest that prostate cancer may not be optimally treated by single agent immune therapies and that combination with biologic agents , chemotherapies , or radiation may offer some enhancement of benefit .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: nppe is an uncommon complication of extubation in the early post - operative period and most commonly caused by laryngospasm . acute laryngeal spasm results in airway obstruction and can cause life threatening pulmonary edema due to negative intra thoracic pressure . the incidence of nppe has been reported to be 0.05 to 0.1% of all anesthesiology practices however it may be underreported due to failure of recognizing or misdiagnosing . a 37-year - old male patient was referred to the emergency department due to developing of severe chest pain , hypotension , and dyspnea following septoplasty operation . on admission , physical examination revealed blood pressure of 70/40 mmhg , heart rate of 75/min , bilateral diffuse crackles at the lung and wheezy breathing . oxygen saturation was 60 - 70% while breathing high - flow oxygen through a face mask . twelve - lead resting electrocardiography ( ecg ) revealed deep and down - sloping st - segment depressions of 3 mm in the precordial leads [ figure 1 ] . due to elevated cardiac biomarkers on admission ( troponin i level : 2,1 ng / dl and creatine kinase myocardial band ( ck - mb ) level : 7,4 mg / dl ) he immediately underwent cardiac catheterization with the diagnosis of non - st elevation myocardial infarction , acute pulmonary edema and cardiogenic shock . twelve - lead resting electrocardiography showing deep and down - sloping st segment depressions in the precordial leads bedside transthoracic echocardiography showed . ejection fraction was normal , estimated pulmonary arterial pressure was not elevated and there was no evidence of thrombus in the main pulmonary artery . there was only increase in diffuse density of the lungs supporting congestion : [ figure 2 ] . thoracic computerized tomography angiography demonstrating increase in diffuse density of the lungs supporting acute diagnosis acute pulmonary edema after coronary angiography , the patient was followed in the intensive care unit . during the follow - up , his oxygen saturation and blood pressure...

negative pressure pulmonary edema ( nppe ) is defined as fluid transudation into the pulmonary interstitium which occurs as a result of elevated negative intrathoracic pressure caused by the upper respiratory tract obstruction and strong inspiratory effort . nppe is usually seen during emergence from general anesthesia in the early post - operative period especially after upper respiratory tract surgery . we present a case of a 37-year - old male patient who underwent septoplasty operation and developed nppe which could not diagnosed and progressed to acute subendocardial myocardial infarction .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: tufted angioma is a rare vascular neoplasm clinically characterized by slowly progressive pink to red macules or plaques on the neck , trunk , or shoulders of children or young adults . these tumors follow a benign course of angiomatous proliferation , without any evidence of malignancy . we report herein a case of multifocal tufted angiomas with annular morphology in a child for the rarity of the condition . an 8-year - old boy was referred to us for the evaluation of multiple reddish elevations on the back , which were first noticed 4 years before presentation . starting as two small reddish asymptomatic patches , the lesions gradually became elevated and fresh lesions appeared in the vicinity of the older ones . the lesions have remained stable for the preceding several months . increased sweating over the patches was noted by the parents . family history and past medical history was unremarkable . on examination , two brightly erythematous annular plaques of about 6 cm and 3 cm diameter in addition , several erythematous papules and plaques of varying sizes were seen around the lesions as well as on the right side of the back . routine laboratory tests , blood coagulation profile , and serum biochemistry panel were within normal limits . two annular erythematous plaques and several papules and plaques of varying sizes on the back we considered the differential diagnoses of tufted angioma , sudoriferous angioma ( eccrine angiomatous hamartoma ) , and capillary hemangioma . crescent - shaped cleft like spaces were seen around the lobules [ figures 2 and 3 ] . based on the clinical findings and characteristic histology , a diagnosis of tufted angioma was made . after discussion about the possible modalities of treatment and the chance of spontaneous regression , the parents preferred regular follow - up without any active intervention and the child was kept under observation . histopathology showing well - circumscribed poorly - canalized capillary lobules in the dermis with crescent - shaped spaces around...

tufted angioma ( ta ) is a localized benign hamartomatous vascular proliferation usually presenting in the childhood as an erythematous plaque . we report here a rare case of multifocal ta in an 8-year - old boy who presented which two large annular lesions as well as multiple papules and nodules on the back for the duration of 4 years . histology showed typical well circumscribed poorly canalized vascular lobules with cannon ball configuration .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: upper gastrointestinal bleeding is one of the most common emergencies managed by gastroenterologists that results in high patient morbidity and medical care costs ( 1 ) . the main sources of upper gastrointestinal bleeding are peptic ulcers , esophagitis , drug - induced mucosal damage , sequelae of portal hypertension ( esophageal varices , varices of the gastric fundus , portal hypertensive gastropathy ) , vascular anomalies , traumatic and postoperative lesions , and tumors ( 3 ) . more recent data suggest that the proportion of cases caused by peptic ulcer disease has declined ( 4 , 5 , 7 ) . peptic ulcers were responsible for only 21 percent of episodes of upper gastrointestinal bleeding among 7822 patients included in a national , united states database between 1999 and 2001 . patients with variceal bleeding were excluded from the analysis ( 6 ) . in the present study all kinds of duodenal and gastric ulcers were treated as a single entity - peptic ulcers . every patient with peptic ulcer should already be tested for h.pylori at the initial endoscopy with rapid urease test and pathologic exam ( giemsa staining for helicobacter pylori ) . peptic ulcer as one of the most important reasons leading to upper gastrointestinal bleeding are mainly resulting from h.pylori infection or inappropriate and progressive use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs ( nsaids ) , stress in hospitalized patients and gastric acid and pepsin ( 9 , 10 ) . although helicobacter pylori infection is prevalent in developing countries , recent reports from different parts of asia have shown a declining trend for h. pylori - associated ulcers ( 11 , 12 ) . since h. pylori - negative ulcers have been shown to have a higher incidence of mortality and recurrent bleeding , documenting the proportion of such cases is important ( 13 ) . therefore more new studies are required to show recent changes in the incidence of various causes resulting in upper gastrointestinal bleeding . the number and the proportion of patients with non- h.pylori...

aimthe purpose of the present study was to evaluate the number and proportion of various causes of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and actual numbers of non - nsaid , non - helicobacter pylori ( h.pylori ) peptic ulcers seen in endoscopy of these patients.backgroundthe number and the proportion of patients with non- h.pylori , non - nsaids peptic ulcer disease leading to upper gastrointestinal bleeding is believed to be increasing after eradication therapy for h.pylori.patients and methodsmedical records of patients referred to the emergency room of taleghani hospital from 2010 with a clinical diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal bleeding ( hematemesis , coffee ground vomiting and melena ) were included in this study . patients with hematochezia with evidence of a source of bleeding from upper gastrointestinal tract in endoscopy were also included in this study.resultsin this study , peptic ulcer disease ( all kinds of ulcers ) was seen in 61 patients which were about 44.85% of abnormalities seen on endoscopy of patients . among these 61 ulcers , 44 were duodenal ulcer , 22 gastric ulcer ( 5 patients had the both duodenal and gastric ulcers ) . multiple biopsies were taken and be sent to laboratory for rapid urease test and pathological examination . about 65.53% of patients had ulcers associated with h.pylori , 9.83% had peptic ulcer disease associated with nsaids and 11.47% of patients had ulcers associated with both h.pylori and consumption of nsaids . 13.11% of patients had non - nsaids non- h.pylori peptic ulcer disease.conclusionthe results of this study supports the results of other studies that suggest the incidence of h.pylori infection related with duodenal ulcer is common , and that non - h pylori and non - nsaids duodenal ulcer is also common .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: basal cell carcinoma ( bcc ) is the most common type of skin cancer in the head and neck region . the incidence of bcc is on the rise , and it represents approximately 65% of all skin carcinomas [ 13 ] . bcc is not usually life threatening , unlike malignant melanoma , but it is locally invasive and may lead to considerable morbidity and complications . bcc is the most frequent tumor type among the us population and also has a strongly rising incidence in europe . although , the incidence of bcc in turkey is not accurately known , we think that there is a rise in the number of patients who are admitted to medical facilities . with the increase in the incidence of bcc , even though mortality is relatively low , the morbidity and treatment - related costs represent a significant burden to health care systems . recurrence is more common , especially with positive peripheral margins and certain types of bcc , like morpheaform forms . positive surgical margins in primary bcc excisions in the head and neck region were reported to be 320% in the literature . recurrence rates in incompletely excised patients were also reported at 2667% . in our study , we present a case with a series of 320 patients with 331 bccs , involving the head and neck region , and who were treated with complete surgical excision . the aim of this paper is to describe the clinical , histopathological , and epidemiological features of completely excised bcc and also to evaluate clinical features of the recurrent cases with previous histologically clear margins in the head and neck region . we performed a retrospective review of the database of our institution , ataturk training and research hospital , which has a wide acceptance of patients from the capital city ankara and surrounding cities . all patients between january 2008 and january 2013 with head and neck bccs were evaluated . only completely excised primary cases with histopathologically confirmed bccs were included in this study . all 331 lesions of 320 patients were categorized with...

the aim of the study is to analyze all completely excised bccs in the head and neck region with regard to age , sex , personal and familial history , skin type , tumor localization and size , histopathological subtype of tumor , reconstruction method , and recurrence rates . incompletely excised bccs were not included in this study since incomplete excision is the most important preventable risk factor for recurrence . in 320 patients , 331 lesions were retrospectively evaluated by dividing into the following 8 subunits : scalp , frontotemporal , orbital , nose , cheek , auricula , perioral , and chin - neck area . most of the patients were in 6070 age group ( 34.7% ) . the nose ( 32.3% ) was the most common site of presentation . clinically , all lesions and , histopathologically , most of the lesions ( 42.2% ) presented were of the nodular type . all cases of recurrence after complete excision ( n = 9 , 2.7% ) were located in the median parts of the head and neck region and were mainly diagnosed histopathologically as sclerotic and micronodular . even though completely excised , head and neck region bccs , especially which are more prone to recurrence due to anatomical and histopathological properties , should be more closely monitored in order to decrease morbidity and health care costs .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: myocardial infarction ( mi ) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality throughout the world . in china , a newly industrialized country , it is estimated that 3 million patients have suffered from mi and an additional 0.5 million patients experience acute mi yearly . substantial progress has been made in myocardial reperfusion strategies , revascularization procedures and novel pharmacological approaches in the past 30 years . however adult cardiomyocytes have a very limited capacity to regenerate themselves , and therapies for rescuing dead cardiomyocytes remain limited . basic research in this area has progressed rapidly since the early 1990s , and furthermore , the evidence from preclinical studies has also been encouraging . the first clinical trial of ctx for mi menasche in 2002 and since then hundreds of clinical safety and efficacy studies have been performed worldwide . bone marrow ( bm)-derived cells have been the most popular cell source in current studies . recently , a meta - analysis was performed to review the outcome of 18 studies involving 999 patients who received bm - derived ctx for cardiac repair . although the administration of bm cells was safe , it only improved heart function by 3% increase in ejection fraction and a 5% reduction in infarct scar size . from a clinical point of view , this moderate improvement is far from satisfactory . in addition to a search for a new more robust cell source , some other potential hurdles must be considered . in the end there is the possibility that cell survival and redistribution after transplantation might drastically improve the outcome and safety of cell therapy . poor survival of engrafted cells has adversely influenced the therapeutic efficacy of ctx for mi . after intracoronary infusion of bm - mononuclear cells , only 5% of transplanted cells could be detected in the myocardium within 2 hrs after infusion ; furthermore , only 1% of infused cells resided in the heart 18 hrs after transplantation . although intramyocardial...

abstractcell transplantation has become an attractive option for cardiac regenerative therapy . however , poor cell survival and extensive redistribution throughout the body can drastically affect the outcome and safety of cell therapy . although various approaches have been attempted to support the survival and engraftment of implanted cells , we need to apply a new comprehensive strategy by melding the in vitro and in vivo approaches to recondition the cells and infarcted myocardium . here we summarize our understanding of cell survival and migration after transplantation into the damaged heart .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: physical activity has been associated with better qol and fewer chronic diseases . despite the benefits of physical activity however , physical activity programs are needed , especially in countries such as brazil , which is experiencing a rapid demographic transition and a burden of chronic diseases . in 2002 , the brazilian government created a public program , the academia da cidade program ( acp ) to encourage community individuals to have physical and leisure activity at public parks ( www2.recife.pe.gov.br/projetos-e-acoes/projetos/academia-da-cidade . , accessed 22 january 2012 ) . at present , acps are located in recife in open public spaces in different neighborhoods with approximately 32,000 participants , 15% of whom are elderly . our aim is to assess the qol according to whoqol - bref and whoqol - old instruments on elderly participants of acp in recife . this cross - sectional study evaluated elderly people attending the acp between march and december 2013 . this study was previously approved by the research ethics committee of imip and participants signed an informed consent . acp activities are led by physical education teachers and offer free supervised leisure - time physical activity sessions , including stretching , aerobic , and resistance training exercises , walking , dancing classes , and other activities . acp activities are offered every hour from 5 am to 10 am and 5 pm to 10 pm during weekdays . participants aged 60 years or more , who have been participating in the program at least twice a week , were selected . the whoqol - old and whoqol - bref questionnaires were applied , and for illiterate participants , the questionnaire was filled out by the researchers . whoqol - bref explores six domains : environment ( 8 items ) , physical ( 7 items ) , psychological ( 6 items ) , social relationships ( 3 items ) , and overall qol ( 2 items ) . whoqol - old accesses elderly - specific facets of qol covering : sensory abilities , autonomy , past , present , and future activities...

purpose : to assess the quality of life ( qol ) of elderly people in the academia da cidade program ( acp ) , a public brazilian government program encourages physical and leisure activity in recife , brazil.materials and methods : this cross - sectional study evaluated 181 elderly people attending the acp at least twice a week . demographic , socioeconomic , and clinical data were presented according to world health organization qol ( whoqol)-bref and whoqol - old scores.results:univariate analysis showed that whoqol - bref and whoqol - old scores were positively associated with longer duration of participation in acp , p < 0.030 and p < 0.003 , respectively , a multivariate regression analysis showed that duration of participation in acp remained associated with higher whoqol - bref ( p = 0.023 ) and whoqol - old ( p = 0.038 ) scores.conclusion:a longer duration of participation in a community - based physical activity program , acp , may contribute to a better qol for the elderly in brazil .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: adults with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled ( a1c 711% ) with maximally tolerated stable doses of metformin , sulfonylurea , or both for 3 months were randomized ( 1:1 ) to 1.8 mg liraglutide once daily or 10 g exenatide twice daily . after 26 weeks , patients continued into a nonrandomized 14-week extension : all exenatide patients were switched to 0.6 mg liraglutide once daily for 1 week , then escalated to 1.2 mg for another week , and then given a final maintenance dose of 1.8 mg . background oral antidiabetes drugs remained unchanged , although sulfonylurea doses could be decreased by 50% if unacceptable hypoglycemia occurred . visits occurred at weeks 2 ( screening ) , 0 ( randomization ) , 4 , 8 , 12 , 20 , 26 , 34 , and 40 for both groups . efficacy and safety assessments during the extension phase ( weeks 2640 ) were identical to those previously described ( 3 ) . extension intention - to - treat ( itt ) ( all randomized patients exposed to trial product who entered the extension ) and extension safety ( all patients exposed to trial product who entered the extension ) populations were used for efficacy and safety analyses , respectively . changes from baseline ( last available observation up to 26 weeks ) to week 40 within each treatment group were analyzed by paired t tests . post - baseline missing values were imputed using last observation carried forward . unless noted , mean ( se ) values are presented . demographics were well matched between groups and similar to those previously reported ( 3 ) . overall , 376 of 389 patients ( 97% ) completed the extension : 10 of 187 ( 5.3% ) with exenatideliraglutide and 3 of 202 ( 1.5% ) continuing liraglutide withdrew . withdrawals ( n [ % ] ) in the exenatideliraglutide and liraglutide groups , respectively , were due to either adverse events ( 6 [ 3.2% ] and 0 ) , ineffective therapy ( 0 and 2 [ 1.0% ] ) , protocol noncompliance ( 0 and 1 [ 0.5% ] ) , meeting withdrawal criteria ( 1 [ 0.5% ] and 0 ) , or other reasons ( 3 [ 1.6% ] and 0 ) ....

objectiveto evaluate efficacy and safety of switching from twice - daily exenatide to once - daily liraglutide or of 40 weeks of continuous liraglutide therapy.research design and methodswhen added to oral antidiabetes drugs in a 26-week randomized trial ( liraglutide effect and action in diabetes [ lead]-6 ) , liraglutide more effectively improved a1c , fasting plasma glucose , and the homeostasis model of -cell function ( homa - b ) than exenatide , with less persistent nausea and hypoglycemia . in this 14-week extension of lead-6 , patients switched from 10 g twice - daily exenatide to 1.8 mg once - daily liraglutide or continued liraglutide.resultsswitching from exenatide to liraglutide further and significantly reduced a1c ( 0.32% ) , fasting plasma glucose ( 0.9 mmol / l ) , body weight ( 0.9 kg ) , and systolic blood pressure ( 3.8 mmhg ) with minimal minor hypoglycemia ( 1.30 episodes / patient - year ) or nausea ( 3.2% ) . among patients continuing liraglutide , further significant decreases in body weight ( 0.4 kg ) and systolic blood pressure ( 2.2 mmhg ) occurred with 0.74 episodes / patient - year of minor hypoglycemia and 1.5% experiencing nausea.conclusionsconversion from exenatide to liraglutide is well tolerated and provides additional glycemic control and cardiometabolic benefits .

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

threshold values are of prime importance in providing a sound basis for public health decisions . a key issue is determining threshold or maximum exposure values for pollutants and assessing their potential health risks . environmental epidemiology could be instrumental in assessing these levels , especially since the assessment of ambient exposures involves relatively low concentrations of pollutants . this paper presents a statistical method that allows the determination of threshold values as well as the assessment of the associated risk using a retrospective , longitudinal study design with a prospective follow - up . morbidity data were analyzed using the fourier method , a time - series analysis that is based on the assumption of a high temporal resolution of the data . this method eliminates time - dependent responses like temporal inhomogeneity and pseudocorrelation . the frequency of calls for respiratory distress conditions to the regional mobile medical emergency service ( mmes ) in the city of leipzig were investigated . the entire population of leipzig served as a pool for data collection . in addition to the collection of morbidity data , air pollution measurements were taken every 30 min for the entire study period using sulfur dioxide as the regional indicator variable . this approach allowed the calculation of a dose - response curve for respiratory diseases and air pollution indices in children and adults . significantly higher morbidities were observed above a 24-hr mean value of 0.6 mg so2/m3 air for children and 0.8 mg so2/m3 for adults.(abstract truncated at 250 words)imagesfigure 1.figure 2 . afigure 2 . bfigure 2 . cfigure 2 . dfigure 3.figure 4.figure 5 .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the origin of tumors of minor salivary glands account for less than 25% of all salivary neoplasms with 40 kleinsasser and klein introduced the term basal cell adenoma to describe a benign salivary gland tumor comprised of uniform appearing basaloid cells arranged in solid , trabecular , tubular , and membranous patterns , but lacking the myxoid and chondroid mesenchymal - like component as seen in pleomorphic adenoma . it has been recognized as one of the nine subcategories of salivary gland adenomas in the second edition of the salivary gland tumors classification of the world health organization ( who ) , and accounts for approximately 1 2% of all salivary gland epithelial tumors . it is considered as a low - grade malignant tumor with a high recurrence rate . a 32-year - old male patient reported with a chief complaint of painless swelling on the right side of the palate , which was first noted by a local physician two months prior . on intraoral examination an , asymptomatic solitary swelling with an insidious onset and growth was seen on the palate . on inspection it was ovoid in shape , measuring about 3.5 2 cm , with well - circumscribed borders . it extended from the mesial aspect of 14 to the distal aspect of 17 , and laterally from the free gingival margin in relation to 14 17 to 0.5 cms away from the midline . on palpation the swelling was nontender , with a smooth surface , and was soft - to - firm in consistency . a well - defined radiolucency with distinct margins was noted in relation to 14 17 . with a clinical diagnosis of adenoma of minor salivary glands , the cytosmears stained with rapid papanicolaou stain revealed predominantly basaloid cells arranged in clumps with hyperchromatic nuclei and an increased nuclear - cytoplasmic ratio [ figure 1 ] . suspecting it to be an adenoma of minor salivary glands , excisional biopsy was recommended . the biopsy specimen obtained was about 3.0 2.0 1.5 cms in dimension , brownish - white in color [ figure 2 ] , and soft - to - firm in...

basal cell adenoma ( bca ) of the salivary glands is an uncommon type of monomorphic adenoma . its most frequent location is the parotid gland . it usually appears as a firm and mobile slow - growing mass . histologically , it is seen as nests of isomorphic cells and interlaced trabeculae with a prominent basal membrane . there is also slack , hyaline stroma with absence of a myxoid or chondroid component . we describe a case of bca of palatal minor salivary glands , a rare site for its occurrence . we also briefly review the literature on the same .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: autistic spectrum disorders ( asds ) are developmental disorders estimated to affect 1 in 150 children . increasing professional awareness has led to higher levels of diagnosis and support , possibly explaining the recorded rise in prevalence over the last 30 years . asd is commoner in males ( m : f autism 4 : 1 , aspergers 10 : 1 ) . genetic factors are complex , and no single gene mutation or chromosome abnormality has been linked , although the condition has the highest heritability of any psychiatric disorder ( approximately 90% ) ; the risk of having a second child with autism is increased by 2030 . the national autism plan for children ( napc ) emphasises the importance of early intervention and close collaboration between parents and professionals and provides a gold standard for services . benefits for parents include increased capacity to seek information from external sources and make use of available health services . this service involved sessions from child and adolescent psychiatrists ( cap ) , community paediatricians ( cp ) , camhs practitioners , specialist speech and language therapists ( salt ) , and educational psychologists ( ep ) . in addition to the core symptoms , there are other common features , such as abnormalities in sleep and mood . for a diagnosis of asds to be made if there are concerns during developmental screens , specific screening for autism is strongly encouraged . most commonly used is the autism diagnostic observation schedule ( ados ) ; however not all characteristics may be demonstrated during the test . difficulties can become more apparent when changes in routine occur , for example , starting a new school , and this is often when children are referred . the diagnosis of autism , however , is often not made until 2 to 3 years after symptoms are recognized . there are considerable demands on parents as they accept and adjust to their child 's communication and social interaction impairments . many people seek information on their own , from other parents...

background . user feedback is now an integral part of both clinical governance and service development , and it also provides a key route to engaging parents and children . autistic spectrum disorders ( asds ) can impact on all members of a family , and close working between parents and professionals is essential . aim . to explore parental satisfaction rates and identify areas in need of improvement . method . a postal survey was completed by parents whose children had been diagnosed with an asd in the past 18 months in a manchester child and adolescent mental health service . the national autism plan for children was used as a gold standard . results . parents were particularly satisfied with the way team members dealt with them and their children during appointments . however , the standard of written information provided about the condition , diagnosis , and support available could be improved . the findings show the benefits of receiving a diagnosis in the recommended timeframe . discussion . we discuss ways of effectively using scarce resources .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: ecology is generally described as the study of the relationships between organisms and the ( a)biotic environment . such relationships are best understood as interactions because the environment is not only dictating the fate of organisms , but organisms also affect the environment . organisms make use of their phenotype ( behaviour , morphology , physiology and life - history traits ) to deal with their environment ( both opportunities and constraints ) . because phenotypic traits are shaped by evolutionary processes , evolutionary history has the potential to affect ecological interactions and , hence , the prosperity of species in rapidly changing environments under human impact ( e.g. , purvis et al . 2000 ; jones et al . 2003 ) . there is a growing recognition of the significance of evolutionary thinking for conservation biology ( e.g. , ashley et al . although there is still a long way to go to fully develop eco - evolutionary conservation strategies in biodiversity management and policymaking , several recent papers provide stimulating perspectives ( e.g. , kinnison and hairston 2007 ; mace and purvis 2008 ; lankau et al . this new wave of interest is not independent of climate change and the need to better understand ( limits of ) evolutionary adaptation in non - model organisms in the field ( hoffmann and sgro 2011 ) . the recent appreciation that evolution is not necessarily a slow process is another factor of significance in this context ; there is evidence for rapid evolutionary responses of organisms , particularly in human - dominated environments ( hairston et al . 2011 ) , although the relative contribution of rapid evolution on ecological dynamics may vary considerably ( ellner et al . i will discuss the significance of an evolutionary way of thinking about what actually represents a species habitat . the current vision on the concept of habitat in ecology and conservation , and surprisingly even in several evolutionary studies , appears often as a remarkable example of typological , static...

there is a growing recognition for the significance of evolutionary thinking in ecology and conservation biology . however , ecology and conservation studies often work with species - specific , fixed traits that ignore intraspecific variation . the way the habitat of a species is considered is an example of typological thinking biased by human perception . structural habitat units ( e.g. , land cover types ) as perceived by humans may not represent functional habitat units for other organisms . human activity may also interfere with the environmental information used by organisms . therefore , the umwelt - concept from ethology needs to be integrated in the way we think about habitat and habitat selection . it states that different organisms live in different perceptual worlds dealing with specific subsamples of the environment as a result of their evolutionary and developmental history . the resource - based habitat concept is a functional habitat model based on resource distributions ( consumables and conditions ) and individual movements . this behavioural approach takes into account aspects that relate to the perceptual world of organisms . this approach may offer new opportunities for conservation and may help avoid failures with habitat restoration . perceptual ability may be subject to adaptive change , but it may also constrain organisms from showing adaptive behaviours in rapidly changing environments .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy ( sg ) was introduced by gagner and colleagues as a first - step procedure to minimize surgical risk for super - super obese ( sso ) or high - risk patients , followed by either laparoscopic biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch or laparoscopic roux - en - y gastric bypass ( rygb ) . sg is now established as a primary bariatric procedure apart from being a first - stage procedure in a planned bariatric approach for high - risk patients . super obese ( so ) patients with a body mass index ( bmi ) 50 kg / m are a difficult - to - manage population because of the huge liver , leading to limited working space ; excessive torque on the instruments because of the thick abdominal wall ; comorbidities ; and high - risk anesthesia . the management of patients with super - super obesity ( bmi 60 kg / m ) also remains a challenge . robotic surgery may be a suitable alternative to the laparoscopic approach in so and sso patients . robotic surgery allows for more precise manipulations and increased dexterity by downscaling the surgeon 's movements and filtering out physiological tremor . it liberates the surgeon from torque on the instruments because of the thick abdominal wall and decreases the port - site trauma because of remote - center technology , thereby conferring improved ergonomic positioning . furthermore , a true 3-dimensional view of the intra - abdominal anatomy with robotic surgery facilitates fine tissue dissection . the main disadvantages associated with robotic surgery remain its high cost and longer setup time compared with the laparoscopic equivalent for many procedures . with increased experience , it may be assumed that this setup time will be reduced , and in the future , operative costs may decrease as material prices are reduced . this study evaluates our initial experience with and technique for robot - assisted sleeve gastrectomy ( rasg ) in morbidly obese ( mo ) and so patients . a robotic platform was used for bariatric surgery starting in march 2012 at...

background and objectives : this study evaluates our technique for robot - assisted sleeve gastrectomy for morbidly obese and super obese patients and our outcomes.methods:a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent robot - assisted sleeve gastrectomy at a single center was performed . the procedure was performed with the da vinci si hd surgical system ( intuitive surgical , sunnyvale , california ) . the staple line was imbricated with no . 2 - 0 polydioxanone in all cases . the super obese ( body mass index 50 kg / m2 ) subset of patients was compared with the morbidly obese group in terms of demographic characteristics , comorbidities , operative times , perioperative complications , and excess body weight loss.results:a total of 35 patients ( 15 female and 20 male patients ) with a mean body mass index of 48.17 11.7 kg / m2 underwent robot - assisted sleeve gastrectomy . of these patients , 11 were super obese and 24 were morbidly obese . the mean operative time was 116.3 24.7 minutes , and the mean docking time was 8.9 5.4 minutes . mean blood loss was 19.36 4.62 ml , and there were no complications , conversions , or perioperative deaths . when compared with the morbidly obese patients , the super obese patients showed no significant difference in operative time , blood loss , and length of hospital stay . there was a steep decline in operating room times after 10 cases of robot - assisted sleeve gastrectomy.conclusion:this study shows the feasibility and safety of robot - assisted sleeve gastrectomy . robotic assistance might help overcome the operative difficulties encountered in super obese patients . it shows a rapid reduction in operative times with the growing experience of the entire operative team . robot - assisted sleeve gastrectomy can be a good procedure by which to introduce robotics in a bariatric surgery center before going on to perform roux - en - y gastric bypass and revision procedures .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: transposons employ intricate mechanisms of excision and reinsertion , and they appear to play an important role in the evolution of their hosts , often accounting for a substantial part of the genomes [ 1 - 5 ] . more recently , however , they have primarily attracted attention as tools for the manipulation of the genomes of their natural hosts and , more importantly , the genomes of other species that are not closely related . transposons have even been found to be active in organisms that do not belong to the kingdom of their natural host . this review summarizes the advances that have been made with one of these versatile genomic tools , namely the transposon minos . minos is a dna ( class ii ) transposon that was fortuitously identified as a repetitive element in the genome of the fruit fly drosophila hydei . the natural element , approximately 1.8 kilobases in length , is characterized by 254 base pair ( bp ) perfect inverted terminal repeats flanking a two - exon transposase gene ( figure 1 ) . the minos element carries a single gene that is interrupted by a 60 bp long intron and encodes a transposase . the amino - terminus of the transposase contains a putative dna - binding domain resembling the paired domain , a conserved feature of the pax protein family . the carboxyl - terminus of the minos transposase contains a d , d34e catalytic triad , which is also found in transposases of related elements such as tc1 and bari1 . the presence of an unmapped nuclear localization signal has been inferred based on the nuclear localization of a minos transposase - enhanced green fluorescent protein ( egfp ) fusion . idr , inner direct repeat ; itr , inverted terminal repeat ; odr , outer direct repeat . surveys among drosophila spp . have revealed widespread occurrence of minos - like elements ; 21 out of 26 analyzed species of the repleta group and 5 out of 7 analyzed species of the saltans group carry minos - like transposons . evolutionary analysis suggests that the distribution of minos in the genus...

transposons are powerful tools for conducting genetic manipulation and functional studies in organisms that are of scientific , economic , or medical interest . minos , a member of the tc1/mariner family of dna transposons , exhibits a low insertional bias and transposes with high frequency in vertebrates and invertebrates . its use as a tool for transgenesis and genome analysis of rather different animal species is described .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: sunitinib is a small molecule multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor currently used for the treatment of cancer . this class of drugs has also been reported to have antidiabetic effects [ 1 - 3 ] , but the mechanism has not been elucidated . here we describe a patient with a nonfunctioning pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma with liver metastasis , who developed life - threatening hypoglycemia after treatment with sunitinib . histological examination of the metastatic mass in the liver suggested that the nonfunctioning neuroendocrine cells were converted into insulin - producing cells , causing hyperinsulinemia and severe hypoglycemia . a 46-year - old woman was carried to the emergency room with sudden loss of consciousness before breakfast . during transfer in the ambulance , 1a ) , with metastases to retroperitoneal lymph nodes , left supraclavicular lymph nodes and liver ( fig . the patient had received this diagnosis 4 months prior , after presenting with right flank pain . needle biopsy and immunohistochemical ( ihc ) staining of the supraclavicular lymph node had been positive for cd56 , chromogranin , and synaptophysin , and negative for glucagon and insulin . one month later , she started taking sunitinib 37.5 mg per day because the disease progressed and the right flank pain increased . after 2 months of sunitinib treatment she felt severe fatigue from which she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism , a common adverse event of sunitinib . she began levothyroxine , but even after normalization of thyroid hormone levels , she experienced intermittent weakness , dizziness , and hunger . to relieve fatigue and hunger , she increased oral intake and experienced weight gain of 10 kg over a month . she reported having no personal or family history of thyroid disease or diabetes mellitus . on physical examination her vital signs were within the normal range , height 156.5 cm and body weight 53 kg . there were two palpable , hard , and nontender lymph nodes of less than 1 cm each in the left supraclavicular...

we report a rare case of severe hypoglycemia after sunitinib treatment for pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma . we describe the initial clinical presentation , laboratory results , pathologic findings , and managment in a patient with a nonfunctioning pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma with liver metastases who developed life threatening hypoglycemia after 2 months of sunitinib therapy . a 46-year - old woman presented to the emergency department with loss of consciousness from hypoglycemia . serum c - peptide and insulin levels at fasting state revealed that the hypoglycemia resulted from endogenous hyperinsulinemia . she had been diagnosed with nonfunctioning pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma based on a biopsy of metastatic cervical lymph node and was being treated with sunitinib , a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor . immunohistochemical stain of the metastatic liver mass demonstrated that the initially nonfunctioning neuroendocrine carcinoma cells had changed into insulin - producing cells after sunitinib therapy . transarterial chemoembolization of the liver masses and systemic chemotherapy with streptozotocin / adriamycin relieved the hypoglycemia . a nonfunctioning pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma was transformed into an insulin - producing tumor after treatment with sunitinib , causing endogenous hyperinsulinemia and severe hypoglycemia .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: a new distribution for analysing time - to - event data was introduced by , known as generalised exponential distribution . generalised exponential distribution can be used as an alternative to the well - known and used weibull distribution in lifetime data analysis and reliability engineering according to . the generalised exponential distribution has the distribution , density , and survival functions , respectively , as ( 1)ft;,p=1exptp , ,p , t>0,ft;,p = p1exptp1expt , st;,p=11exptp , where p is the shape parameter and the scale parameter . let the ge distribution with the shape parameter p and the scale parameter be denoted by ge( , p ) . according to , the two - parameter ge( , p ) can be used quite effectively in analysing many lifetime data and can assume the place of the two - parameter gamma and two - parameter weibull distributions . the two - parameter ge( , p ) can have increasing and decreasing failure rates depending on the shape parameter . studies that involve time - to - event or survival data analysis are focussed on measuring time - to - event of an outcome . time - to - event could vary from time to either death or the occurrence of a clinical endpoint such as disease or the attainment of a biochemical marker . a special course of difficulty in the analysis of time - to - event data is the possibility that some individuals or units may not be observed for the full time to failure . in some circumstances , some individuals or units do not fail but are lost - to - followup during the observed period . instead of knowing the failure time t , all we know about these individuals is that their time - to - failure exceeds some value , say x , where x is the follow - up time of these individuals in the study , which is referred to as censoring . under random or noninformative censoring , a sample of , say , n , elements are followed for some time , say t. an instance of this type of censoring occurs when the termination date for a medical trial is not fixed before the study starts but is...

a unit is said to be randomly censored when the information on time occurrence of an event is not available due to either loss to followup , withdrawal , or nonoccurrence of the outcome event before the end of the study . it is assumed in independent random / noninformative censoring that each individual has his / her own failure time t and censoring time c ; however , one can only observe the random vector , say , ( x ; ) . the classical approach is considered for analysing the generalised exponential distribution with random or noninformative censored samples which occur most often in biological or medical studies . the bayes methods are also considered via a numerical approximation suggested by lindley in 1980 and that of the laplace approximation procedure developed by tierney and kadane in 1986 with assumed informative priors alongside linear exponential loss function and squared error loss function . a simulation study is carried out to compare the estimators proposed in this paper . two datasets have also been illustrated .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: supernumerary teeth can occur in primary or permanent dentition , but are more frequently reported in permanent dentition . they can occur in different forms , unilaterally or bilaterally and either in the maxilla or mandible . supernumerary teeth may be an incidental finding on a radiograph or the cause for failure of eruption of permanent teeth . the most common supernumerary tooth is the mesiodens that occurs between the maxillary central incisors . heredity may also play a role in the occurrence of this anomaly , as supernumeraries are more common in the relatives of affected children than in the general population . occurrence of supernumeraries is reported to be 0.2 to 0.9 % of the general population and is seen more frequently in permanent dentition . approximately 90% of cases present in the maxilla with a strong predilection for the incisor region ( mesiodens ) , followed by maxillary and mandibular fourth molars ( distomolars or distodens ) , premolars , canines and lateral incisors . on the basis of morphology , they are classified as supplemental ( where the tooth has a normal shape for the teeth in that series)tuberculate ( also called peg shaped)compound odontome ( multiple small tooth - like forms)complex odontome ( a disorganized mass of dental tissue ) . supplemental ( where the tooth has a normal shape for the teeth in that series ) tuberculate ( also called barrel shaped ) conical ( also called peg shaped ) compound odontome ( multiple small tooth - like forms ) complex odontome ( a disorganized mass of dental tissue ) . on the basis of position , a supernumerary tooth may be referred to as a mesiodens , para premolar , para molar , or a distomolar . multiple supernumerary teeth are usually associated with conditions such as cleft - lip and palate or syndromes like cleidocranial dysplasia and gardners syndrome . however , it is rare to find multiple supernumeraries in individuals with no other associated disease or syndrome . a 35-year - old man came to the department of conservative...

the presence of supernumerary teeth is not uncommon in the general population . they occur more frequently in patients with a family history of such teeth . it is rare to find multiple supernumeraries in individuals with no other associated disease or syndrome . there have been very few documented cases of bilateral maxillary and mandibular supernumeraries in the premolar region . an unusual case of a 35-year - old man with six para premolars and complete dentition is presented .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: laboratory bacterial strains used are derived from e. coli k12 ( bw25113 obtained from the coli genetic stock center or mg1655 obtained from atcc ) . the uropathogenic e. coli strain uti89 was kindly provided to us from matt conover and scott hultgren . the ciprofloxacin - resistant uropathogenic e. coli isolate ( upec cipro ) was collected from the brigham and women s hospital specimen bank ( sup . table 3 ) . deletion mutants on the bw25113 background were derived from the keio collection following kan cassette removal . deletion mutants on the mg1655 background were constructed by allelic transduction from keio collection strains using classical p1 phage transduction , followed by kan cassette excision . the dam null phenotype was confirmed by pcr alone or with electrophoresis of genomic dna digested with dpnii , which cleaves unmethylated gatc sites only . for construction of the dam uti89 and dam upec cipo strains , the parent strain bearing a km208 plasmid - based red - recombinase system was electroporated with a pcr amplicon encoding the dam::kan allele . the genotype of each deletion strain was verified by colony pcr . the plasmid used in the dam complementation studies , namely pzs*31 ( fig . pzs*31 has a psc101 * origin of replication ( which yields a low copy number of 35 plasmids per cell ) and a chloramphenicol - resistance marker . genes encoding either dam ( with 500bp upstream flanking region ) or gfp were inserted into the multiple cloning site . for complementation experiments using mutated versions of dam , the plasmid containing the dam insert was engineered using either gibson cloning or site - directed mutagenesis ( neb , q5 site - directed mutagenesis kit ) . quinolone resistance - conferring mutations in the cipo upec clinical isolate were identified though whole - genome illumina sequencing of genomic dna ( purelink pro-96 genomic purification kit ; life technologies ) . raw sequencing reads were processed by trimming adapter sequences and discarding reads shorter then 28bp . the...

antibiotic resistance is an increasingly serious public health threat1 . understanding pathways allowing bacteria to survive antibiotic stress may unveil new therapeutic targets28 . we explore the role of the bacterial epigenome in antibiotic stress survival using classical genetic tools and single - molecule real - time sequencing to characterize genomic methylation kinetics . we find that escherichia coli survival under antibiotic pressure is severely compromised without adenine methylation at gatc sites . while the adenine methylome remains stable during drug stress , without gatc methylation , methyl - dependent mismatch repair ( mmr ) is deleterious , and fueled by the drug - induced error - prone polymerase poliv , overwhelms cells with toxic dna breaks . in multiple e. coli strains , including pathogenic and drug - resistant clinical isolates , dna adenine methyltransferase deficiency potentiates antibiotics from the -lactam and quinolone classes . this work indicates that the gatc methylome provides structural support for bacterial survival during antibiotics stress and suggests targeting bacterial dna methylation as a viable approach to enhancing antibiotic activity .

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

the transmission risk of foot - and - mouth disease ( fmd ) in japan was evaluated using a mathematical fmd transmission model . the distance - based transmission rate between farms , which was parameterized using the fmd epidemic data in 2010 in japan , was used to calculate the local - level reproduction numbers expected numbers of secondary infections caused by one infected farm for all cattle and pig farms in the country , which were then visualized as a risk map . the risk map demonstrated the spatial heterogeneity of transmission risk in the country and identified risk areas with higher possibility of disease spread . this result suggests that , particularly in high - risk areas , it is important to prepare for the smooth and efficient implementation of control measures against fmd outbreaks .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the population of old people is rising exponentially in thailand . according to the foundation of thai gerontology research and development institute , tgri ( 2013 ) it is projected that the aged population in thailand will significantly rise to approximately 22 million by 2040 . in 25 years , 33.5% of the entire thailand population will be old people . people in this age group usually have the highest rate of disability and are often the most dependent . in spite of the efforts made by the thai government to enhance the quality of healthcare services for the older population , the prevalence of disparate access to services , inadequate quantity of healthcare resources ( such as equipment , personnel , and finance ) , and lack of interinstitutional and intrainstitutional coordination among healthcare institutions still persists . in a bid to counter these problems , the thai government commissioned a working group to make changes to the country 's national plan on older persons in 2009 . the working group drew inspiration from the findings of an evaluation of this plan that had been previously conducted and recommended for the establishment of community - based long - term care institutions for the elderly . these institutions would offer medical and social care for the elderly in the comfort of their homes . in the past , adl scale was basically constructed for individuals suffering from stroke and has two items pertaining to climbing stairs and continence . a combination scale that assesses adl , social involvement , and communication an earlier step in disability intensity may be recognized as a limitation in instrumental activities of daily living ( iadl ) . such activities essentially involve cognitive functions and other basic actions such as shopping , telephoning , shifting from one place to another , and dealing with medicines and funds . these days adl and iadl are often used for measuring health in both clinical studies and community - based surveys of older group [ 2 , 3 ] . the calculations...

background . there is an important need to characterize risk factors for disability in thailand , in order to inform effective prevention and control strategies . this study investigated factors associated with risk of 6 types of disability in thailand 's ageing population in 2002 , 2007 , and 2011 . methods . data came from the cross - sectional national surveys of older persons in thailand conducted by the national statistical office ( nso ) in 2002 , 2007 , and 2011 . stratified two - stage sampling was employed . interviews of 24,835 , 30,427 , and 34,173 elderly people aged 60 and above were conducted in the respective study years . prevalence of disabilities was measured , and factors associated with disability risk were assessed with probability - weighted multiple logistic regression . results . disability prevalence decreased slightly over the study period . the characteristics with greatest positive impact on disability prevalence were not working over the past week ( average impact : 61.2% ) , age ( 53.7% per decade ) , and suffering from one or more chronic illnesses ( 46.3% ) . conclusions . the strong observed positive impact of not working on disability prevalence suggests that raising the mandatory retirement age might result in some reduction of disability risk . also , the observed positive impact of living with others ( versus alone ) on disability risk was somewhat unexpected .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the most common hospital - acquired infection is catheter - associated urinary tract infection ( cauti ) accounting for almost 40% of all the nosocomial infections . the single most important predisposing factor for cauti is the insertion of urinary catheter . urinary ( foley ) catheters are used very frequently in hospitalized patients , and almost 25% of them undergo urinary catheterization during their stay in the hospital . the frequency of urinary catheterization in intensive care unit ( icu ) can range as high as 100% . catheter - associated urinary tract infection produces substantial morbidity in hospitalized patients including discomfort , fever , malaise and unnecessary antibiotic use , which may become an important source of antibiotic resistant organisms . further , the catheterized urinary tract acts as a reservoir for the dissemination of these drug resistant organisms to other patients . there are increased chances of catheter blockage , urinary tract stones and even increased risk of malignancy of the urinary tract following cauti . if it gets complicated by bacteremia , it increases the cost of care tremendously besides increasing the mortality in these hospitalized patients . most doctors and nurses are unfamiliar with the indication of catheterization and further there is no defined management plan to monitor the presence of unnecessary catheter . since the number of catheter days in icu setting is more , the frequency of cauti is expected to be higher . but many studies have shown similar rates of cauti in the icu and non icu patients . this shows that all hospitalized patients including non icu patients are an important group for surveillance and prevention of cauti . many studies have shown that single most important modifiable risk factor for decreasing the incidence of cauti is reducing unnecessary catheter use . preventive measures such as catheter reminders for removing the catheter as soon as possible restrict the number of catheter days and thus lead to decreased...

background and aims : catheter - associated urinary tract infection ( cauti ) is one of the most common health care acquired infection encountered in clinical practice . the present study was planned to assess the knowledge and attitude of health care providers regarding the indications for catheterization and methods of preventing cauti.methods:a prospective questionnaire - based survey was done from march 2011 to august 2011 . a structured questionnaire comprising of 41 items related to demographic details of the respondents , their knowledge regarding indications for catheterization and methods of preventing cauti was given to 54 doctors and 105 nurses . the response was evaluated for statistical correlation using a computer software.results:the mean years of experience of the respondents in the health care setup was 6.8 years . only 57% of the respondents could identify all the measures for prevention of cauti . the knowledge regarding the indication for catheterization though suboptimal was significantly better amongst the doctors as compared to nurses.conclusion:the knowledge regarding indication and preventive measures was suboptimal in our study group . there is a tremendous scope of improvement in catheterization practices in our hospital and education induced intervention would be the most appropriate effort toward reducing the incidence of cauti .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: pit displays the characteristic histological features of a thymoma , with the additional characteristic of being surrounded by lung or visceral pleura without evidence of a thymic lesion in the anterosuperior mediastinum . due to its rarity , variety , unclear natural course , and non - specific features on diagnostic imaging , a formal diagnosis can be made only based on a pathological examination . therefore , surgical resection should be considered for an exact diagnosis , unlike is the case for mediastinal thymomas . herein , we report the case of a patient who was initially suspected to have lung cancer on the basis of a bronchoscopic biopsy but was later diagnosed with pit after surgery followed by a pathological examination . written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report and all accompanying images . a 59-year - old asymptomatic female with a history of partial thyroidectomy for papillary thyroid cancer visited for the evaluation of pulmonary nodules observed in a low - dose chest computed tomography ( ct ) scan . there was a 1.1-cm nodule in the right upper lobe ( rul ) and a 5-mm small ground glass nodule in the left upper lobe . the 1.1-cm rul nodule was suspected to be primary lung cancer , and a contrast ct scan was performed . in the contrast ct scan , the rul nodule was observed as a 1.5-cm finger - shaped lesion with a smooth margin in the subsegmental bronchus of the posterior segment . in positron emission tomography ( pet ) with 18-f fluorodeoxyglucose ( fdg ) , the maximum standardized uptake value ( suvmax ) of the rul endobronchial nodule was 4.1 ( fig . lung cancer was strongly suspected from the findings of the radiological studies , and fiber - optic bronchoscopy was performed to confirm the tissue diagnosis . the bronchoscopy revealed a smooth surface mass obstructing a subsegmental bronchus of the posterior segment ( fig . however , spindle cell proliferation with moderate cellularity , mild nuclear pleomorphism , and mitosis over 10...

primary intrapulmonary thymoma ( pit ) is a very rare lesion of uncertain pathogenesis . pit should be considered when the histopathological appearance of a lung tumor shows features that are uncommon but similar to those of a thymoma . in this case report , we discuss the case of a 59-year - old female with a solitary pulmonary nodule that was confirmed to be pit on the basis of pathological tests . treatment with complete resection showed good results .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: web- and mobile - phone - based applications are now commonly used to improve coverage and quality of health services . in india , the mother and child tracking system ( mcts ) is one such web - based applications that is used nation - wide to improve the coverage of maternal , newborn , and child health ( mnch ) services . similarly , the use of mobile - phone application such as mobile health ( mhealth ) for improving health services is becoming popular in india . the first step of utilizing any e - health initiative is registration of eligible beneficiaries ; however incomplete registration is a major concern . only 35% of pregnant women were found to be registered through the mcts in india in 2011 . the purpose of the current study was to assess an innovative mhealth intervention to ensure completeness of pregnancy , delivery , and death registration by the accredited social health activists ( ashas ) in the tribal areas of gujarat . this cross sectional study was undertaken by a local voluntary organization , society for education welfare and action rural ( sewa rural ) among randomly selected five predominant tribal villages of two primary health centers ( phcs ) of bharuch district for a period of 2 months ( april - may 2015 ) . sewa rural and the department of health and family welfare , government of gujarat , india implemented an innovative mhealth application called the innovative mobile - phone technology for community health operations ( imtecho ) since 2013 . the purpose of the imtecho is to improve the coverage and quality of the mnch services through improving support and supervision of ashas and phc staff . some of the strategies used in the imtecho to ensure completeness of registration were as follows : point of care registration using the imtecho mobile - phone application , linkage of ashas performance - based incentives to electronic record in the imtecho , regular feedback to ashas regarding completeness of registration , and demand generation among the community by the use of mobile -...

background : the innovative mobile - phone technology for community health operation ( imtecho ) is a mobile - phone application that helps accredited social health activists ( ashas ) in complete registration through the strategies employed during implementation that is linking ashas incentives to digital records , regular feedback , onsite data entry , and demand generation among beneficiaries.objective:to determine the proportion of pregnancies , deliveries , and infant deaths ( events ) being registered through the imtecho application against actual number of events in a random sample of villages.materials and methods : five representative villages were randomly selected from the imtecho project area in the tribal areas of gujarat , india to obtain the required sample of 98 recently delivered women . a household survey was done in the entire villages to enumerate each family and create a line - listing of events since january 2014 ; the line - listing was compared with list of women registered through the imtecho application . the proportion of events being registered through the imtecho application was compared against the actual number of events to find sensitivity of the imtecho application.result:a total of 844 families were found during household enumeration . out of actual line - listing of pregnancies ( n = 39 ) , deliveries ( n = 102 ) , and infant deaths ( n = 5 ) found during household enumeration , 38 ( 97.43% ) , 101 ( 99.01% ) , and 5 ( 100% ) were registered by ashas through the imtecho application.conclusion:the use of mobile - phone technology and strategies applied during the imtecho implementation should be upscaled to supplement efforts to improve the completeness of registration .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: recent advances in high - throughput sequencing technologies have greatly increased the scale and scope of genomics research , and this was evident throughout the recent biology of genomes meeting at the cold spring harbor laboratory . here in one of several talks that investigated the causes , dynamics and phenotypic effects of regulatory change , mike snyder ( stanford university , stanford , usa ) used chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by dna sequencing ( chip - seq ) to examine the variability in transcription factor binding among individuals in yeast ( saccharomyces cerevisiae ) and human . in both species , significant variation was observed , and the amount of binding was strongly correlated with gene expression . much of the observed binding variation could be associated with specific single nucleotide polymorphisms ( snps ) and structural changes to the genome . on the basis of the patterns of variation , snyder suggested that gene regulation may work like a government , with global regulators and local regulators all having strong effects , but with some focused on a more limited set of loci . snyder 's talk introduced two themes that appeared throughout the meeting : the widespread adoption of high - throughput sequencing as an analysis strategy ; and a focus on identifying and understanding regulatory elements . axel visel ( lawrence berkeley national laboratory , berkeley , usa ) continued these themes in a talk that highlighted the limitations of using comparative genomics to identify enhancers . by performing chip - seq with the enhancer - associated p300 protein on mouse forebrain and embryonic heart tissue , he and colleagues identified a large number of heart enhancers with very low evolutionary conservation compared to forebrain enhancers . this surprising result suggests that deep pathway conservation does not imply regulatory sequence conservation , that enhancer conservation is not predictive of function , and that there are global differences in enhancer conservation between...

a report on the 23rd annual meeting on ' the biology of genomes ' , 11 - 15 may 2010 , cold spring harbor , usa.meeting reportrecent advances in high - throughput sequencing technologies have greatly increased the scale and scope of genomics research , and this was evident throughout the recent biology of genomes meeting at the cold spring harbor laboratory . here we describe some highlights of the meeting .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the three goals of radical prostatectomy ( ) are cancer control , preservation of urinary control , and preservation of sexual function. as the techniques of rp have evolved , our understanding of the relevant anatomy has improved and better oncological and functional outcomes have been reported . despite this , there remains no consensus on operative technique and there remain many technical components of the procedure itself where controversy exists . one such contentious area is the role of bladder neck sparing ( bns ) versus bladder neck reconstruction ( bnr ) and the impact of both techniques on oncological and functional outcomes . those in favour of bns suggest this technique allows earlier return of continence and a lower incidence of post - operative strictures , without compromising oncological clearance . surgeons who favour bnr state concerns about compromising surgical margins with no definitive improvement in functional outcome . bns has been incorporated into open rp ( orp ) , laparoscopic rp ( lrp ) and robot - assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy ( ralp ) techniques . technical aspects of bns vary between the surgical approaches because of the technical difficulties this can present and the prolonged learning curve . circumferential , anterior and lateral approaches to the have all been described in orp , lrp and ralp . improved surgical techniques and appreciation of the local anatomy have seen huge modifications to the technique of rp since the first described procedure by proust in 1901 . preservation of the neurovascular bundle was first reported in 1983 by walsh et al . and since then , sparing of suspensory mechanism of the urethra preservation of urethral length posterior rhabdosphincter sparing , bns and seminal vesicle sparing have all been described as important techniques for optimising functional outcome after rp . bns has evolved from a better understanding of the anatomy and physiology of mechanisms of uc . new research based on embryological , 3d imaging and urodynamic studies...

the role of a bladder neck sparing ( bns ) technique in radical prostatectomy ( rp ) remains controversial . the potential advantages of improved functional recovery must be weighed against oncological outcomes . we performed a literature review to evaluate the current knowledge regarding oncological and functional outcomes of bns and bladder neck reconstruction ( bnr ) in rp . a systematic literature review using on - line medical databases was performed . a total of 33 papers were identified evaluating the use of bns in open , laparoscopic and robotic - assisted rp . the majority were retrospective case series , with only one prospective , randomised , blinded study identified . the majority of papers reported no significant difference in oncological outcomes using a bns or bnr technique , regardless of the surgical technique employed . quoted positive surgical margin rates ranged from 6% to 32% . early urinary continence ( uc ) rates were ranged from 36% to 100% at 1 month , with long - term uc rate reported at 84 - 100% at 12 months if the bladder neck ( bn ) was spared . bns has been shown to improve early return of uc and long - term uc without compromising oncological outcomes . anastomotic stricture rate is also lower when using a bns technique .

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using a modal matching theory , we demonstrate the generation of short - range , chiral electromagnetic fields via the excitation of arrays of staggered nanoslits that are chiral in two dimensions . the electromagnetic near fields , which exhibit a chiral density greater than that of circularly polarized light , can enhance the chiroptical interactions in the vicinity of the nanoslits . we discuss the features of nanostructure symmetry required to obtain the chiral fields and explicitly show how these structures can give rise to detection and characterization of materials with chiral symmetry .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: most of us agree that the assumption that nurses care and doctors cure is too simplistic , and that it is not uncommon for many nurses not to care very much at all , and for some doctors to care a great deal . however , in spite of this , there still is a theoretical discrepancy between nursing and medicine in relation to how care is handled ; while care may be said to constitute an important part of professional self - understanding in nursing1 [ 7 , 27 , 28 , 38 , 39 ] , it still may be said to be situated in the margins of the ethical thinking in medicine [ 9 , 42 , 51 , 52 ] , and seldom applied to medical education . nursing and the nursing profession may be criticized for monopolizing the concept of care . in light of this theoretical discrepancy and the fact that many patients complain about a lack of care when meeting with their doctors , and experiencing ignorance , insensitivity or degrading behaviour [ 24 , 26 , 35 ] , this urges a further analysis of the relevance of the care discourse in medicine . implementing nursing care perspectives in medicine is controversial for a number of reasons , and may be why it has not been explored thoroughly . however , this is not a reason to avoid the topic . on the contrary therefore , in this paper i attempt to bring some of this knowledge from nursing into the field of medicine , taking the influential scholarly works on care by norwegian nursing scientist and philosopher kari martinsen as my point of departure.2 kari martinsen s work has influenced the current understanding of care in nursing in scandinavian countries , and she belongs to a different theoretical tradition than the gilligan s anglo - american . investigating martinsen in the context of medicine will be interesting because it will represent an attempt to bridge the gap between related research traditions in medicine and nursing , and it will represent an attempt to relate the scandinavian nursing debate on care inspired by phenomenology to the anglo - american tradition of care ethics...

in this paper i introduce a theoretical framework on care developed by the norwegian nurse and philosopher kari martinsen , and i argue that this approach has relevance not only within nursing , but also within clinical medicine . i try to substantiate this claim by analysing some of the key concepts in this approach , and i illustrate the potential clinical relevance of this approach by applying it in relation to two care scenarios . finally , i discuss some of the concerns that have been raised in relation to the aim of highlighting care in medicine .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: one of the major factors that can negatively affect breastfeeding is the lack of breast milk . there are many instructions on the subject of breast milk in iranian traditional medicine resources . this article attempts to investigate causes and reasons for the lack of breast milk from the perspective of the great scholars in this field . this study reviews the literature based on the iranian traditional medicine . the literature review included traditional medicine resources and a survey of reputable databases using keywords such as morzae , sady , pestan , sheer , sheerkhar , and hifzossehhe . according to the viewpoint stated in traditional medicine literature , the primary substance for milk production is blood that transforms to milk after crossing the breast glandular tissue . the main causes of milk shortage can be classified into four categories , namely food - related factors , factors related to blood impaired , factors related to breast tissue and psychological and physical factors . one of the main reasons for milk shortage is the impaired quality and quantity of food . appropriate mizaj of breast tissue is required for adequate milk production as it develops sufficient ability to absorb and transform the substance into milk . on the other hand , the ability of breast tissue is greatly influenced by the main organs of the body , particularly the heart ; being the core of understanding psychological factors . thus , psychological factors can have a significant effect on the process of milk production . due to the importance of breastfeeding , reflection on other viewpoints , such as those mentioned in iranian traditional medicine , could pave the way towards new research areas .

background : support for breastfeeding is a public health priority . one of the major factors that can negatively affect breastfeeding is the lack of breast milk . there are many instructions on the subject of breast milk in iranian traditional medicine resources . this article attempts to investigate causes and reasons for the lack of breast milk from the perspective of the great scholars in this field.methods:this study reviews the literature based on the iranian traditional medicine . the literature review included traditional medicine resources and a survey of reputable databases using keywords such as morzae , sady , pestan , sheer , sheerkhar , and hifzossehhe . the content analysis was used after collecting data.results:according to the viewpoint stated in traditional medicine literature , the primary substance for milk production is blood that transforms to milk after crossing the breast glandular tissue . the main causes of milk shortage can be classified into four categories , namely food - related factors , factors related to blood impaired , factors related to breast tissue and psychological and physical factors . one of the main reasons for milk shortage is the impaired quality and quantity of food . appropriate mizaj of breast tissue is required for adequate milk production as it develops sufficient ability to absorb and transform the substance into milk . on the other hand , the ability of breast tissue is greatly influenced by the main organs of the body , particularly the heart ; being the core of understanding psychological factors . thus , psychological factors can have a significant effect on the process of milk production.conclusion:due to the importance of breastfeeding , reflection on other viewpoints , such as those mentioned in iranian traditional medicine , could pave the way towards new research areas . it could also steer policies towards an extra focus on breastfeeding by mothers .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: over the next 30 years , the elderly population ( 65 years and older ) in the united states is expected to double . by the year 2040 , 20% of americans will be 65 years of age and older as compared to 12.97% in 2010 . from 2010 to 2050 , the total population is expected to increase by 142% ; the age group of 65 years old and over is expected to increase by 220% , the age group of 85 years old and over is expected to increase by 331% , and the age group of 100 years old and over is expected to increase by 761% . although there has been an increase in life expectancy , the later years may not be lived in good health . the burden associated with providing health care to an aging population is likely to increase , with nutrition being one of the most important factors for maintaining quality of life . to maintain health , independence , and well - being , however , many studies indicate that seniors ' diets are low in calories and other nutrients . within the community , efforts have been made to develop nutrition programs targeting older people of high nutritional risk . home delivered meals program , such as those provided by mow , can make a significant contribution to the nutrient intakes of the homebound . despite the sincere intentions of organizations , administrators of charitable programs often over - focus on the nutritional content of meals with little concern for recipients ' food preferences , satisfaction , or more importantly , avoidances . therefore , this study was conducted to evaluate recipients ' perceptions of food quality , volunteer service and responsiveness , and their satisfaction of home delivered meals program . malnutrition among the elderly may be related to illness , cognitive impairment , medication usage , functional decline , and mental illness [ 6 - 8 ] . previous research showed that 74% to 98% of elderly recipients of mow were at nutrition risk . furthermore , many elderly people have physical problems that make it difficult for them to consume certain foods . used the...

this study was conducted to evaluate recipients ' perception of service quality , satisfaction , and behavioral intention in home delivered meals program in the us . out of 398 questionnaires , 265 ( 66.6% ) were collected , and 209 questionnaires ( 52.5% ) were used for the statistical analysis . a confirmatory factor analysis ( cfa ) with a maximum likelihood was first conducted to estimate the measurement model by verifying the underlying structure of constructs . the level of internal consistency in each construct was acceptable , with cronbach 's alpha estimates ranging from 0.7 to 0.94 . all of the composite reliabilities of the constructs were over the cutoff value of 0.50 , ensuring adequate internal consistency of multiple items for each construct . as a second step , a meals - on - wheels ( mow ) recipient perception model was estimated . the model 's fit as indicated by these indexes was satisfactory and path coefficients were analyzed . two paths between ( 1 ) volunteer issues and behavioral intention and ( 2 ) responsiveness and behavioral intention were not significant . the path for predicting a positive relationship between food quality and satisfaction was supported . the results show that having high food quality may create recipient satisfaction . the findings suggest that food quality and responsiveness are significant predictors of positive satisfaction . moreover , satisfied recipients have positive behavioral intention toward mow programs .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: globally , the production of canned tuna is continuously increasing and the current european market demand far exceeds the availability of raw material that the fishing areas of the european union ( eu ) are able to provide , forcing fish processing companies to seek new and cheaper sources of supply , such as zero duty africa , caribbean and pacific ( acp ) countries . there are therefore considerably increased imports of tuna from countries such as the ivory coast , mauritius and papua new guinea and , with regard to italy , also from the seychelles ( + 48% ) ( fao , 2014 ) , with italian processing companies increasingly supplied by fish from non - european waters ( aniol and rupert , 2011 ) . according to a study by the ministry of agriculture , fisheries and food of the spanish government ( interatun , 2007 ) , the eu s decision to lower the 12% tax on the importation of fish products from some non - european countries , has significantly reduced the competitiveness of european fishing . moreover , the checks carried out on imported products are not exhaustive and do not always meet all the parameters set by european legislation , in particular regulations ( ce ) 853/2004 , 854/2004 , 882/2004 and 558/2010 , with the consequent risk that the raw material is not of good quality and that the sterilisation processes normally used in the canning industry may be insufficient to eliminate the microbiological contamination present at the time of processing ( landry et al . , 1998 ; warne , 1988 ) . the level of tuna meat contamination is influenced by the environment and the conditions and methods of fishing , time of year , handling , processing and evisceration , but particularly by the handling on board and the delayed cooling of fish during storage and transfer at markets and processing plants ( figueroa et al . , 2006 ; grau et al . , 2003 ; doyle et al . , 2000 , 2008 ; figueroa et al . , 2006 ; gonzales et al . , 1997 ) , but there are no specific studies on the difference in stability between the same...

the results of a study on the microbiological stability of canned tuna produced by italian companies and similar canned products manufactured in countries outside europe are reported herein . the study involved 38 samples of canned tuna of various brands , of which 14 were produced by companies outside europe and 24 by italian companies . qualitative and quantitative microbiological tests were conducted for the following parameters : bacterial colony counts at 30c , total coliforms , total enterobacteriaceae , sulphite - reducing anaerobes , salmonella spp . , bacillus cereus , escherichia coli , staphylococcus aureus , yeasts and molds . bacterial loads and mold contamination were respectivelyin found in 8/14 ( 57% ) samples from outside eu and 7/24 ( 29% ) italian samples . the bacterial flora was represented by gram - positive bacteria ( staphylococcus warneri , staphylococcus lentus , streptococcus mitis , enterococcus faecalis , leuconostoc mesenteroides ) , gram - negative bacteria ( sphingomonas paucimobilis , acinetobacter iwoffii , rhizobium radiobacter ) , spore - forming bacteria ( bacillus vallismortis ) , while the fungal species was represented by penicillium spp . , rhizopus spp . , rhodotorula spp . and alternaria spp . excluding anomalies in the thermal treatment process of products and any contamination after treatment , the contaminations encountered in both cases were most likely due to insufficient production quality standards and the quality of the raw material used . these results may require a redefinition of the concept of commercial stability as hitherto stated .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: mycotic aortic aneurysms are a rare condition with a relative incidence of 13% of all aortic aneurysms . the patients often present late with nonspecific symptoms , and these aneurysms are prone to rupture ; therefore , early diagnosis and urgent treatment is vital . computed tomography angiography ( cta ) is the first - line imaging modality for the diagnosis of both mycotic aneurysms and complications such as aortoenteric fistulas ( aefs ) . aefs constitute a devastating clinical condition , which may cause abundant gastrointestinal hemorrhage with or without sepsis . prompt diagnosis and treatment is mandatory because without surgical intervention , the mortality rate approaches 100% . surgical conversion after endovascular aortic repair ( evar ) is recommended for mycotic aneurysms when the patient is amenable to open surgery . sugimoto et al . reported that timely surgical intervention after the control of sepsis provided excellent outcomes , whereas the mortality rate of patients with sepsis or rupture was high . a 72-year - old man was admitted to the emergency room with abdominal pain radiating to the back and high fever after extracorporeal shock - wave lithotripsy procedure . cta revealed an irregularly shaped , saccular mycotic infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm with a maximum diameter of 59 mm ( figure 1a and b ) . a left - sided psoas abscess ( 554522 mm ) a drainage catheter could not be placed ; hence , the abscess cavity was not liquefied . empiric intravenous antibiotherapy was administered upon clinical diagnosis since the aspirate and blood cultures were negative . ( a ) axial computed tomography angiography image of the irregularly shaped , saccular mycotic infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm ( red arrows ) and the left - sided psoas abscess ( white arrows ) is presented here . the infrarenal mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysm was treated with endovascular repair . because it was saccular with adequate proximal and distal lengths , control cta was obtained at the first month , and it...

mycotic aortic aneurysms account for 13% of all aortic aneurysms . the management of this disease is controversial . since open surgical repair is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates , endovascular aneurysm repair is an alternative treatment method with promising early and midterm outcomes , although its long - term durability is unknown.secondary aortoenteric fistulas may occur iatrogenically after either aortic reconstructive surgery or endovascular repair . as the number of aneurysms managed with endovascular aneurysm repair has substantially increased , cases of aortoenteric fistulas referred for endovascular repair are augmented.we report the case of an aortoduodenal fistula manifested with duodenal perforation after staged endovascular and surgical treatment of a mycotic aortic aneurysm .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: birth of a child with ambiguous genitalia often imparts great deal of apprehension and confusion to the involved families . diagnostic workup and timely designation of the gender to these patients clitoromegaly refers to an abnormal enlargement of a female clitoris , thus masquerading as a male penis . most of the cases of clitoromegaly in pediatric age group are attributed to hormonal etiologies with minority of cases affected by nonhormonal causes such as neoplastic infiltration . although complete diagnostic workup of these patients consists of extensive hormonal and chromosomal assays , in practice , pelvic imaging constitutes a vital preliminary step in evaluation . because of unparalleled tissue characterization and multiplaner capabilities , pelvic magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) not only adequately depicts the urogenital anatomy in the hormonal causes of female virilization but also aids in surgical planning . moreover , amongst the nonhormonal etiologies , mri can also comprehensively delineate mass lesions infiltrating the clitoris . in this report , we present such a case of ambiguous genitalia in a female baby with congenital clitoromegaly , in which pelvic mri and mr neurography revealed the presence of extensive neurofibromatosis in the clitoris and lumbosacral regions . a 7-year - old child presented to the outpatient department of endocrinology clinic of our hospital for evaluation of ambiguous genitalia and intersex state . on physical examination [ figure 1 ] , there was presence of multiple light to dark brown patches of pigmentations in the lower abdomen , perineal region , bilateral groins , and upper thighs . the examination of genital region revealed a small penis that looked like an enlarged clitoris , with small scrotum that was separated and looked like labia . based on the clinical examination , the child was presumed to be genetic male and referred for karyotyping and ultrasound of pelvis to look for undescended testes . however , the patients karyotype came out to be 46xx and...

genitourinary involvement of neurofibromatosis is uncommon and genital neurofibromatosis is even rarer . involvement of clitoris by neurofibroma can lead to clitoromegaly masquerading as a male penis . we report such a case of ambiguous genitalia in a 7-year - old female child presenting with clitoromegaly since birth , in which magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) revealed the presence of extensive neurofibromatosis in the clitoris and lumbosacral regions . we emphasize the central role of mri in evaluation of hormonal and non - hormonal causes of ambiguous genitalia . we further discuss the merits of including mr neurography in the imaging protocol for comprehensive delineation of neurofibromatosis .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: a significant quantity of food and beverages arrive on the market in a robust form of tinplate packaging . hermetically sealed can allow minimization of headspace oxygen and also keep a long and safe shelf life with minimal use of preservatives . however , the use of tinplate for food and beverage packing will result in some tin dissolving into food content . tinplate corrosion depends on many factors including can material , nature of the can linings and coatings , and nature and acidity of the contacting foodstuff . only limited reports are available on the toxicological effects of inorganic tin as present in canned foods , resultant from dissolution on the tin coating . the main potential hazard from acute ingestion seems to be gastric irritation in some individuals exposed to high levels . the maximum limit of 250 mg kg for tin in canned foods and 150 mg kg for tin in canned beverages was recommended by world health organization . within the european union large discrepancies exist between national regulations and maximum permitted levels range from 50 mg kg to 250 mg kg . determination of tin in canned food became very important because it gives information about the contamination process and provides help to increase canned food quality and safety . in order to evaluate tin concentration in canned food and beverages , several analytical methods are described in the recent literature : fluorimetric with use of surfactant reagents to increase the sensitivity [ 4 , 5 ] , flame ( faas ) and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry ( etaas ) [ 68 ] , and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry ( icp - oes ) [ 911 ] . there are also several studies concerning the quality and resistance of tinplate after interaction with foodstuff which performed the use of x - ray microanalysis ( eds ) and scanning electron microscopy ( sem ) [ 12 , 13 ] . atomic spectrometry methods in analysis of tin level in canned foods presume decomposition of food samples which is usually performed by...

tin content in samples of canned fruits and vegetables was determined by hydride generation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry ( hg - icp - oes ) , and it was compared with results obtained by standard method of flame atomic absorption spectrometry ( aas ) . selected tin emission lines intensity was measured in prepared samples after addition of tartaric acid and followed by hydride generation with sodium borohydride solution . the most favorable line at 189.991 nm showed the best detection limit ( 1.9 g l1 ) and limit of quantification ( 6.4 g kg1 ) . good linearity and sensitivity were established from time resolved analysis and calibration tests . analytical accuracy of 98102% was obtained by recovery study of spiked samples . method of standard addition was applied for tin determination in samples from fully protected tinplate . tin presence at low - concentration range was successfully determined . it was shown that tenth times less concentrations of sn were present in protected cans than in nonprotected or partially protected tinplate .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the endothelium , the monolayer of endothelial cells lining the lumen of all blood vessels , plays an important role in the regulation of vasomotor tone control with the release of vasoconstrictor mediators.1 endothelial function can be assessed by flow - mediated dilatation ( fmd ) which be carried out noninvasively with ultrasound techniques on the brachial artery . fmd are widely used as modalities for evaluating atherosclerosis and can be used to predict cardiovascular events.2,3 the ankle - brachial pressure index ( abi ) , the ratio of the systolic blood pressure of the ankle to the systolic brachial pressure , is an index of lower extremity arterial obstruction and a test for the screening of patients with peripheral arterial disease ( pad ) . in healthy subjects , the blood pressure in the ankle artery is higher than that in the brachial , but , when systemic atherosclerosis in an artery of the lower extremities is present , ankle blood flow is barred , resulting in a drop in ankle pressure . the abi is commonly measured at rest , but abi values post - exercise enhance the sensitivity of the test and can be used to identify subclinical atherosclerotic vascular damage.4,5 however , it has not been established whether enhanced post - exercise abi is also associated with endothelial dysfunction . we hypothesized that a decrease in post - exercise abi is related to impaired endothelial function . to test this hypothesis , we investigated changes in post - exercise abi values and fmd in the elderly . the study population comprised 35 men and women aged 5177 years ( 5 men , 30 women , mean age : 66.2 6.7 years ) who were admitted to the wellness 2008 center in osaka sangyo university for exercise prescription and health counseling . of these participants , 1 had angina pectoris , 4 had diabetes , and 3 had a history of smoking . patients who had pad or heart failure were excluded because of severe peripheral vascular damage . this study conformed to the ethical and human principles of research , and...

background : the ankle - brachial pressure index ( abi ) , the ratio of the systolic blood pressure of the ankle to the systolic brachial pressure , is commonly measured at rest , but abi values post - exercise enhance the sensitivity of the test and can be used to identify atherosclerotic vascular damage . however , it has not been established whether or not enhanced post - exercise abi is also associated with endothelial dysfunction . we hypothesized that a decrease in post - exercise abi is related to impaired endothelial function.purpose:to investigate alterations in post - exercise abi values and endothelial dysfunction in the elderly.methods:the study population comprised 35 men and women aged 5177 years ( mean age : 66 years ) . patients with peripheral arterial disease or a history of heart failure were excluded . the abi was estimated at rest and immediately after exercise . the exercise protocol comprised 2.5 min of active pedal flexion exercises at a speed of 60 times / min . endothelial function was assessed by measuring flow - mediated vasodilation ( fmd ) in the brachial artery using ultrasound imaging.results:no correlation was found between fmd and the abi at rest . however , a weak correlation was found between fmd and post - exercise abi ( r = 0.46 , p = 0.06 ) . a strong correlation was observed between fmd and a decrease in post - exercise abi compared to baseline readings ( r = 0.52 , p = 0.01 ) . multiple linear regression analysis was used to generate a prediction equation for fmd using the percentage decrease in post - exercise abi . significant correlations were observed between the ultrasound imaging - measured fmd and the predicted fmd ( r2 = 0.27 , p = 0.001).conclusions : post - exercise abi appears to be a simple surrogate marker for endothelial function in the elderly , although larger studies are required for validation .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: increased microglial activity facilitates beneficial responses to central nervous system ( cns ) injuries , including phagocytosis of debris and clearance of apoptotic cells ; however , unregulated microglial activity can lead to production of neurotoxic factors that worsen cns pathology and cause neuronal degeneration [ 17 ] . microglia constitute the main immune cells in the cns and provide innate immunity under physiological conditions and adaptive immunity under stress , promoting inflammation in response to various signals from apoptotic cells [ 14 ] . the phenotype of cns resident macrophages is considered activated and designated m1 or classical activation , which describes the proinflammatory phenotypic response . m2 or alternative activation describes phenotypic responses to cytokines , such as interleukin-(il- ) 4 and il-13 . in many neurodegenerative diseases , persistent injury ( such as intraneuronal protein accumulation ) promotes the production of proinflammatory molecules ( figure 1 ) , like tumor necrosis factor ( tnf)- , interleukin ( il)-1 , il-6 , reactive oxygen species ( ros ) , and nitric oxide ( no ) . proinflammatory factors activate microglia [ 10 , 11 ] , which may remove not only apoptotic or damaged neurons , but also healthy neurons , aggravating the pathogenic process . the inflammatory response is generally localized to areas of cns injury via communication between immune cells and stressed neurons . innate inflammation is reported in alzheimer 's disease ( ad ) , parkinson 's disease ( pd ) , and the tauopathies ( reviewed in ) . in the healthy brain , microglia have a resting deactivated phenotype ( ramified ) . activated microglia are present in human postmortem brain tissues of patients with tauopathies , including ad , frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome-17 ( ftdp ) , progressive supranuclear palsy ( psp ) , and corticobasal degeneration ( cbd ) [ 1315 ] . also associated with neurodegeneration in these diseases are hyperphosphorylated tau...

the role of inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases has been widely demonstrated . intraneuronal protein accumulation may regulate microglial activity via the fractalkine ( cx3cl1 ) signaling pathway that provides a mechanism through which neurons communicate with microglia . cx3cl1 levels fluctuate in different stages of neurodegenerative diseases and in various animal models , warranting further investigation of the mechanisms underlying microglial response to pathogenic proteins , including tau , -amyloid ( a ) , and -synuclein . the temporal relationship between microglial activity and localization of pathogenic proteins ( intra- versus extracellular ) likely determines whether neuroinflammation mitigates or exacerbates disease progression . evidence in transgenic models suggests a beneficial effect of microglial activity on clearance of proteins like a and a detrimental effect on tau modification , but the role of cx3cl1 signaling in -synucleinopathies is less clear . here we review the nature of fractalkine - mediated neuronmicroglia interaction , which has significant implications for the efficacy of anti - inflammatory treatments during different stages of neurodegenerative pathology . specifically , it is likely that anti - inflammatory treatment in early stages of disease during intraneuronal accumulation of proteins could be beneficial , while anti - inflammatory treatment in later stages when proteins are secreted to the extracellular space could exacerbate disease progression .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: despite their usually low stability , organic radical cations1 , 2 have raised substantial interest in a wide range of research areas owing to their critical importance in a multitude of organic and biological reactions , for which they act as reactive intermediates . furthermore , radical cations that absorb light in the nearinfrared ( nir ) region have attracted much attention in the materials science community , as this feature may potentially enhance the efficiency of solar cells.3 the core structure of radical cations is usually based on fused rings and/or metal complexes . radical cations with monocyclic rings have received substantially less attention in comparison.4 the core units of these molecules usually contain heteroatoms such as nitrogen , oxygen , and sulfur.1b , 2i , 2j , 5 , 6 the properties of triarylaminederived radical cations have especially been studied in great detail in this context.7 in general , their absorption bands at approximately =700 nm are subject to a bathochromic shift . n , ndimethylaminophenylsubstituted triphenylamines show absorption bands at approximately =1300 nm . however , most of these compounds are unstable and/or are present only at low temperature . for example , the radical cation of 1,3,6tris(dipanisylamino)pyrene , which contains fused rings , exhibits a halflife of 3 h.8 in addition , several radical cations generated from sulfurcontaining monocyclic aromatics , such as thiophenes9 and thiazoles,10 have been reported . some thiazole radical cations , such as 1butyl5methylthiazolium,9d have been reported , but their photophysical properties have not been disclosed . furthermore , even the radical cations derived from large molecules with heterocyclic rings , such as azathiahelicene , exhibit halflives of only approximately 8 h.2h in this context , we recently developed 5aminothiazoles with various substituents ( scheme 1 ) that could be readily prepared from thioformamides and secondary thioamides . these 5aminothiazoles represent the first examples of...

abstractchemical or electrochemical oneelectron oxidation of 5narylaminothiazoles was found to afford stable radical cations . for chemical oxidation , 1 equivalent of [ ( 4brc6h4)3n][sbcl6 ] ( magic blue , mb ) was added to ch2cl2 solutions of the thiazoles , and the thusobtained radicals showed light absorption in the nearinfrared region . electrochemical oxidation also led to bathochromic shifts in the absorption bands , and the obtained spectra were similar to those derived from the chemically oxidized species . these radicals afforded electron paramagnetic resonance ( epr ) spectra that are consistent with the notion of stable nitrogen radicals ( halflife385 h ) . the epr spectrum of a thiazole containing 4dimethylaminophenyl groups on the nitrogen atom at the 5position changed significantly upon adding > 3 equivalents of mb . details of the electronic structures of the experimentally obtained radical cations were generated from theoretical calculations .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: emergency hematopoiesis defines the production of functional hematopoietic cells under nonhomeostatic , proinflammatory , or biologically stressed conditions [ 14 ] . blood cell production is a tightly regulated process that , after birth and throughout life , starts in a conspicuous hematopoietic stem cell ( hsc ) subset residing within the bone marrow ( bm ) . our current understanding of how hsc early differentiation is governed by the microenvironment indicates that , besides the stromal cell components of the various hematopoietic niches , not only essential growth and differentiation factors but also microbes and their products can influence differentiation fate decisions [ 3 , 5 , 6 ] . of note , emergency hematopoiesis is regulated at the stem and progenitor cell ( hspc ) level , where conditions such as infection demand the expedited production and activation of innate immune cells to combat noxious extrinsic agents , and the resulting proinflammatory conditions can at the time regulate the earliest steps of the hematopoietic development in favor of the clearance of insulting cues and to further maintain homeostasis . we have previously shown that pathogens and damaged tissue products and proinflammatory cytokines promote emergency hematopoiesis and alter patterns of early lymphoid differentiation in mouse and human [ 35 , 710 ] . in mice , pathogen recognition through toll like receptors ( tlr ) and the resulting cytokine release induce the expansion of hsc and instruct lineage differentiation fates so immediate innate cell development is guaranteed [ 6 , 7 ] . in general , ligation of tlr2 and tlr4 on these seminal cells promotes redirection toward myeloid cell production , while the sole tlr9 stimulation of primitive common lymphoid progenitors ( clp ) strikingly induces b cell differentiation blockage while development of dendritic cells ( dc ) , plasmacytoid dendritic cells ( pdc ) , and nk - related interferon killer dendritic cells ( ikdc ) is substantially enforced [ 5 , 8 ] . in humans...

reconstitution of the hematopoietic system during immune responses and immunological and neoplastic diseases or upon transplantation depends on the emergent differentiation of hematopoietic stem / progenitor cells within the bone marrow . although in the last decade the use of dialyzable leukocyte extracts ( dle ) as supportive therapy in both infectious and malignant settings has increased , its activity on the earliest stages of human hematopoietic development remains poorly understood . here , we have examined the ability of dle to promote replenishment of functional lymphoid lineages from cd34 + cells . our findings suggest that dle increases their differentiation toward a conspicuous cd56+cd16+cd11c+ nk - like cell population endowed with properties such as ifny production , tumor cell cytotoxicity , and the capability of inducing t lymphocyte proliferation . of note , long - term coculture controlled systems showed the bystander effect of dle - stromal cells by providing nk progenitors with signals to overproduce this cell subset . thus , by direct effect on progenitor cells and through activation and remodeling of the supporting hematopoietic microenvironment , dle may contribute a robust innate immune response by promoting the emerging lymphopoiesis of functional cd11c+ nk cells in a partially tlr - related manner . unraveling the identity and mechanisms of the involved dle components may be fundamental to advance the nk cell - based therapy field .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the accord trial design , inclusion criteria , subject characteristics , and main results have been previously published ( 2 ) . the accord trial was designed to determine whether cardiovascular event rates in t2 dm could be reduced through intensive glycemic control , intensive blood pressure control , and lipid management targeting triglycerides and hdl cholesterol in addition to ldl cholesterol . each participant was randomized to either intensive ( a1c goal < 6.0% ) or standard ( a1c goal 7.07.9% ) glycemic control and was assigned to either the blood pressure trial ( intensive vs. standard arm ) or the lipid trial ( statin alone vs. statin plus fenofibrate ) . this article represents a post hoc analysis of data available for accord participants in both glycemia arms who completed at least 2 years of follow - up in the trial and had weight and a1c data available at the end of 2 years . since most of weight gain occurred in the first 2 years , we focused our evaluation on this period . furthermore , we have presented results from > 90% of participants in the trial . at the time of discontinuation of the glycemic arm of the trial ( and stopping intensive treatment ) , a large proportion of participants had not completed 3 years in the trial . weight measurements were obtained at every scheduled clinic visit ( every 2 months in the intensive arm and every 4 months in the standard arm ) . weight measurement of participants in the accord trial was standardized by the use of high - quality scales in the clinics with a firm , flat surface and a zeroing system , weighing participants with minimal clothing and without shoes , and with weight distributed over both feet as evenly as possible . information on baseline demographics , clinical characteristics , treatment , and treatment changes was obtained from the accord trial database . we used general linear models to examine the association between each baseline characteristic and weight change at the 2-year visit . for continuous variables , we then added the...

objectiveidentify determinants of weight gain in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus ( t2 dm ) allocated to intensive versus standard glycemic control in the action to control cardiovascular risk in diabetes ( accord ) trial.research design and methodswe studied determinants of weight gain over 2 years in 8,929 participants ( 4,425 intensive arm and 4,504 standard arm ) with t2 dm in the accord trial . we used general linear models to examine the association between each baseline characteristic and weight change at the 2-year visit . we fit a linear regression of change in weight and a1c and used general linear models to examine the association between each medication at baseline and weight change at the 2-year visit , stratified by glycemia allocation.resultsthere was significantly more weight gain in the intensive glycemia arm of the trial compared with the standard arm ( 3.0 7.0 vs. 0.3 6.3 kg ) . on multivariate analysis , younger age , male sex , asian race , no smoking history , high a1c , baseline bmi of 2535 , high waist circumference , baseline insulin use , and baseline metformin use were independently associated with weight gain over 2 years . reduction of a1c from baseline was consistently associated with weight gain only when baseline a1c was elevated . medication usage accounted for < 15% of the variability of weight change , with initiation of thiazolidinedione ( tzd ) use the most prominent factor . intensive participants who never took insulin or a tzd had an average weight loss of 2.9 kg during the first 2 years of the trial . in contrast , intensive participants who had never previously used insulin or tzd but began this combination after enrolling in the accord trial had a weight gain of 4.65.3 kg at 2 years.conclusionsweight gain in accord was greater with intensive than with standard treatment and generally associated with reduction of a1c from elevated baseline values . initiation of tzd and/or insulin therapy was the most important medication - related factor...

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: abdominal compartment syndrome ( acs ) is a life - threatening syndrome with an increase in incidence among critically ill patients . primary acs results from a direct injury within the abdomen and pelvic region ( e.g. , a blunt or penetrating trauma , ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm or laparotomy ) . a direct injury to the abdomen creates an opportunity for hemorrhage and tissue injury . the initial bleeding causes hypoperfusion to the tissues and the accumulating of blood clots within the abdomen initiates intra - abdominal hypertension ( iah ) . acs is most commonly diagnosed in patients with sustaining abdominal or pelvic traumas or in those suffering from some other intra - abdominal hemorrhagic catastrophes . less common etiologic factors are space - occupying lesions ( e.g. , tumors , obstructed bowel ) and bowel / retroperitoneal edema or ascites as well as accompanying mesenteric ischemia or severe pancreatitis . the incidence of acs is reported to be up to 35% in the intensive care population , with reduced survival when compared with other intensive care patients . mortality and morbidity rates are extremely high when patients develop acs , and recognition and treatment are time critical . although the cause of iah can vary , and the degree of organ dysfunction can differ from patient to patient , the reason for this is the effect of decreasing blood flow and increasing pressure on abdominal organs and surrounding organs that creates the end organ dysfunction that defines acs . acs is characterized by a silent physiological derangement and can easily be overlooked or misinterpreted . normal values of intra - abdominal pressure ( iap ) are considered to be close to atmospheric pressure , represented as 0 - 5 mmhg . pooling of blood in the peripheral circulation occurs as congestion is made in the large veins due to the impeded pathway through the abdomen . as the diaphragm is pushed up by the expanding volume of the abdomen , the heart and the pulmonary veins are compressed , causing increased...

introduction : an increase in abdominal pressure can lead to so - called intra abdominal compartment syndrome ( acs ) . multiple factors such as an increase in retroperitoneal volume due to pancreatitis , bleeding and edema as a result of pelvic fracture can lead to compartment syndrome . prevention is better than cure in compartment syndrome . by measuring the intra - abdominal pressure ( iap ) through the bladder , a quick and accurate assessment of abdominal pressure is achieved . therefore , this study aimed to evaluate the relationship between pelvic fracture and acs in traumatic patients.materials and methods : this research was a descriptive analytical study conducted on 100 patients referring to the shiraz nemazee hospital in 2010 . iap was monitored every 4 h in patients suspected to be at high risk for acs , e.g. , those undergoing severe abdominal trauma and pelvic fracture . the iap was measured via the urinary bladder using the procedure described by kron et al . data collected were analyzed using spss software.results:the findings showed that acs occurred in 28 of 100 patients . with regard to the associated injuries with abdominal trauma , 19% of all patients and 46/42% of the patients with acs had pelvic fracture . chi - square test revealed a significant relationship between pelvic fracture and incidence rate of acs ( p < 0.001).conclusions : according to the collected data , pelvic fracture due to a trauma can be one of the important causes of an increase in iap and acs . in this lethal condition , prevention is better than cure . therefore , serial measurement of iap through the bladder in high - risk patients ( those with pelvic fracture by trauma ) is recommended to the nurses to diagnose this condition and to decrease the incidence of mortality .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the prevalence of electronic nicotine delivery systems ( ends ) , such as ecigarettes and vapor pens , is on the rise around the world 1 . while ecigarettes may have potential roles in assisting with smoking cessation or tobacco harm reduction 2 , they are not currently approved or regulated by the food and drug administration . although several studies show that use of ecigarettes is associated with initial reduction in tobacco use 2 , 3 , 4 , their safety and longterm efficacy as cessation devices are unknown 4 . the majority of people who use ecigarettes formerly smoked tobacco cigarettes 5 , and many continue to smoke cigarettes while also using ends 5 , a phenomenon referred to as dual use . the prevalence of dual use suggests that regular ecigarette use may promote continued tobacco addiction , especially since most of the psychological aspects of cigarette addiction are also operative with ecigarettes and other ends 6 . the potentially addictive nature of ecigarettes has received little attention in the research literature , and providers who want to help ends users discontinue use of these devices need guidance on evidencebased methods . the current report presents the case of an individual who had used an ecigarette to assist in quitting smoking but found that he was unable to stop ecigarette use ; he entered our program to quit using ecigarettes . with a combination of behavioral counseling and nicotine replacement therapy ( nrt ) , he became completely tobacco free . a 24yearold caucasian male enrolled in a tobacco treatment program with the stated desire to cease using ecigarettes . he described concerns about his health and fitting in with his social circle , in which smoking and vaping ( inhaling vapor from ecigarettes ) were not acceptable . he began experimenting with cigarettes around age 17 and smoked 20 cigarettes per day until he was 19 , when he quit for 1 year . he resumed smoking at age 20 and then quit for another year at age 22 , before resuming smoking at age 23 . he had not used...

key clinical messagealthough use of electronic nicotine delivery system devices , such as ecigarettes and vapor pens , is on the rise , no treatment protocols exist to help such users quit . we report the case of a 24yearold patient in a tobacco treatment program who successfully quit ecigarette use by using nicotine replacement therapy .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: biomonitoring is an important way of evaluating human exposures to selected environmental contaminants and is becoming more widely used in public health work . creatinine is often used for normalizing or adjusting urinary analyte concentrations for dilution in clinical samples and is considered an integral part of monitoring for exposures . creatinine is also commonly used to normalize concentrations of absorbed chemicals in spot urine collection studies like the survey conducted by webs [ 24 ] . the guidelines of the world health organization ( who ) set the occupational range at 30 to 300 mg / dl and the us department of transportation measures urinary creatinine down to 5 mg / dl to correct for selective drugs of abuse . there are studies that point out that the limit may need to be lowered to include current environmental toxicants which are now being measured at very trace levels [ 3 , 4 ] . we set our lower calibration range at 20 mg / l ( 2 mg / dl ) . there are several published analytical methods for measuring creatinine in urine such as the jaff reaction [ 57 ] , high performance liquid chromatography ( hplc ) [ 810 ] , enzymatic methods [ 11 , 12 ] , and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry ( lc / ms / ms ) techniques [ 1315 ] . some of the advantages using the lc / ms / ms method developed at the phl compared to other lc / ms / ms methods include improved linearity , within - day and between - day precision , and lower injection volumes ( less system stress ) . measuring creatinine by lc / ms / ms technology is much more sensitive and selective . enzymatic methods and colorimetric methods such as the jaff reaction are less specific and can be affected by several interfering substances giving results that are too high . for example , erroneously high values can result in these methods from the conditions of the hydrolysis step where urea and sugar combine to form products which also react with picric acid in the jaff reaction . the lc / ms / ms method is not adversely affected by urea...

a viable , quick , and reliable method for determining urinary creatinine by liquid chromatography / tandem mass spectrometry ( lc / ms / ms ) was developed and used to evaluate spot urine samples collected for the washington environmental biomonitoring survey ( webs ) : part of the washington state department of health , public health laboratories ( phl ) . 50 l of urine was mixed with a 1 : 1 acetonitrile / water solution containing deuterated creatinine as the internal standard and then analyzed by lc / ms / ms . utilizing electrospray ionization ( esi ) in positive mode , the transition ions for creatinine and creatinine - d3 were determined to be 114.0 to 44.1 ( quantifier ) , 114.0 to 86.1 ( qualifier ) , and 117.0 to 47.1 ( creatinine - d3 ) . the retention time for creatinine was 0.85 minutes . the linear calibration range was 204000 mg / l , with a limit of detection at 1.77 mg / l and a limit of quantitation at 5.91 mg / l . lc / ms / ms and the colorimetric jaff reaction were associated significantly ( pearson r = 0.9898 and r 2 = 0.9797 , 0.0001 ) . the lc / ms / ms method developed at the phl to determine creatinine in the spot urine samples had shorter retention times , and was more sensitive , reliable , reproducible , and safer than other lc / ms / ms or commercial methods such as the jaff reaction or modified versions thereof .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: we report a case of a 32 week gestation newborn diagnosed with a right ventricular outflow tract mass and subsequently diagnosed with tuberose sclerosis that needed early surgical intervention . while this case needed early intervention , the need for surgical intervention in otherwise asymptomatic cases is debatable as neonatal cardiac rhabdomyomas can spontaneously regress . the need for surgical intervention in otherwise asymptomatic cases is debatable as neonatal cardiac rhabdomyomas can spontaneously regress over time . we report a case of a 32 week gestation newborn diagnosed with a right ventricular outflow tract mass and subsequently diagnosed with tuberose sclerosis that needed early surgical intervention . a 32 week gestation baby born to a primigravida lady with no significant antenatal , maternal medical or family history with a birth weight 1.66 kg ( 9 - 25 centile ) and head circumference of 26.5 cm ( 0.4 2 centile ) was found on routine day 3 examination with a grade 2/6 ejection systolic murmur but otherwise well . subsequent echocardiogram confirmed the presence of multiple small echogenic masses on the inter - ventricular septum and right ventricle free wall , with the largest lesion measuring 8.2 mm 7.1 mm in the right ventricular outflow tract ( rvot ) in an otherwise structurally normal heart ( figure 1 , 2 and 3 ) . top - parasternal short axis echocardiography view showing 8.2mm7.1 mm mass in the right ventricular outflow tract . colour doppler of the right ventricular outflow tract the lesion on the rvot caused moderate outflow tract obstruction with a doppler pressure gradient of 70mmhg ( figure 4 ) . cardiac rhabdomyomas are associated with tuberose sclerosis complex ( tsc ) , and further investigations were performed to evaluate our suspicion in this case . magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) of the brain showed multiple nodules in the subependymal region and cerebral hemispheres bilaterally ( figure ) . mri of the brain showing multiple lesions as seen in tuberose sclerosis...

backgroundneonatal tuberose sclerosis complex may be associated with symptomatic cardiac rhabdomyomas . cardiac rhabdomyomas are the most common cardiac tumours . the symptoms include haemodynamic instability and life threatening arrhythmias usually requiring early surgical intervention.resultswe report a case of a 32 week gestation newborn diagnosed with a right ventricular outflow tract mass and subsequently diagnosed with tuberose sclerosis that needed early surgical intervention.conclusionwhile this case needed early intervention , the need for surgical intervention in otherwise asymptomatic cases is debatable as neonatal cardiac rhabdomyomas can spontaneously regress .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the hormones dominating the phases are gonadotropin releasing hormone ( gnrh ) , follicle - stimulating hormone ( fsh ) , luteinizing hormone ( lh ) , estrogen and progesterone . these hormones can be changed by exercise estrogen and progesterone increase after acute exercise . in the menstrual period , progesterone and estrogen secretion is suppressed by chronic exercise1 , 8 , 13 , 26 . the performance of female athletes during their menstrual periods has attracted the attention of researchers for many years . , studies have not detected any decrease in the performance of female athletes during their menstrual periods4 , 6 , 10 , 24 . in this study , the effect of maximal aerobic exercise the luteal phase on some gonadal hormones and alpha - fetoprotein ( afp ) in female athletes was researched . it has a molecular weight of 70 kd is and it synthesized by the yolk sac , fetal gastrointestinal tract , and liver20 . it is an important parameter in pregnancy follow - up as the afp level increases in intrauterine fetal deaths , hydrocephalus , hemolytic diseases , placental separations , and neural - tube defects in pregnant women21 . the measurement of afp level is important for tracing prognosis and diagnosis hepatoma and germ cell tumors18 , 21 . serum afp is also elevated in 524% of malignancies of the pancreas , stomach , and colon20 . in a 12-week study performed in 2014 , ko et al . found no change in the afp level of women aged around seventy after 1 , 3 and 5 days of an exercise program . our study will contribute to the literature in terms of the relationship between afp and exercise . estrogen is an 18-carbon corticosteroid molecule released from the ovaries of women and from the testis of men . furthermore , it is also affects the cardiovascular system , muscle skeletal system , immune system , and central nervous system . it plays a role in the repair of the skin , nervous system , and hepatic tissues . while the estrogen level in women is not changed by...

[ purpose ] the performance of female athletes during their menstrual period has attracted the attention of researchers for many years . it is known that the menstrual period changes with exercise . alpha - fetoprotein ( afp ) is an oncofetal protein . in this study , the effect of maximal aerobic exercise in the luteal phase on some hormones and afp in female athletes was researched . [ subjects and methods ] twelve volunteers and healthy female footballers with normal menstrual cycles volunteered for this study as subjects . all the participants performed a shuttle run test . blood samples were taken before , after , and one hour after exercise . serum afp , estrogen , progesterone , follicle - stimulating hormone ( fsh ) , and luteinizing hormone ( lh ) values were measured using an auto analyzer and original kits . heart rate measurements were performed before and after the exercise . [ results ] afp activity had significantly decreased after 1 h of recovery from the exercise in the female soccer players , and estrogen and lh activity had significantly increased immediately after the exercise . progesterone activity had significantly decreased immediately after the exercise . fsh values had significantly increased immediately after the exercise . [ conclusion ] the results of the present study show there were significant decreases in the values of afp , which is a cancer parameter , 1 hour after the exercise . this result may be valuable in future physiotherapy studies on the relationship between exercise and cancer .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: chronic heart failure ( hf ) is a significant health and social problem . in the united states alone , nearly 6 million people suffered from hf in 2008 , and this disease is becoming increasingly prevalent with more than 550,000 new cases diagnosed each year . half of hf patients die within 5 years of the first onset of symptoms , and half ( 50%60% ) of the patients diagnosed with severe hf do not live longer than a year . hf is the most common cause of hospitalization in those over the age of 65 years , and 54% of the patients are readmitted to hospital within 6 months of discharge . hf also results in significant morbidity and disability , thereby generating permanent and high health care costs . heart disease is the leading cause of mortality in iran ; unfortunately , further accurate statistics describing the burden of hf are not available . optimal medical management following a cardiovascular event remains underprescribed , and even more so in developing countries . similarly , nonpharmacological management and interventions are infrequently recommended , and patient adherence to lifestyle modifications remains poor . recent european research suggests that the control of cardiovascular risk factors , including tobacco use , obesity , hypertension , hypercholesterolemia , and diabetes , is far below an acceptable level [ 9 , 10 ] . the nature and severity of hf symptoms greatly depend on the patient 's knowledge , cooperation , and active participation in their health management . however , improving health and preventing hf from progressing by adopting self - care skills , adhering to complex treatment regimens , and changing lifestyle behaviours is particularly challenging . according to orem 's self - care theory , effective self - care activities can reduce the need for hospitalization . this theory postulates that nurses interact with patients in three ways according to the patient 's ability to participate in their care : total compensation , partial compensation , and supportive - educational...

background . chronic heart failure is a major health and social problem . the promotion of self - care behaviours can potentially assist patients to effectively manage this chronic condition and prevent worsening of the disease . formal personalized educational interventions that provide support and take into consideration the cultural context are needed . objective . the objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of a supportive - educational intervention on self - care behaviours of heart failure patients in iran . methods . this research was a prospective , randomized trial of a supportive - educational intervention . eighty heart failure patients were randomly assigned to receive the supportive - educational intervention or usual care . the intervention consisted of a one - hour , nurse - led , in - person education session and postdischarge followup by telephone over three months . data were collected at baseline , one , two , and three months . results . the control and intervention groups did not differ in self - care scores at baseline ( p > 0.05 ) . each of the self - care scores was significantly higher in the intervention group than the control group at 1 , 2 , and 3 months ( p < 0.001 ) . there were significant differences in self - care behaviours over the three months , among participants in the intervention group . conclusion . this study provides support for the effectiveness of a supportive - educational intervention to increase self - care behaviours among iranian patients suffering from chronic heart failure .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: diabetic muscle infarction ( dmi ) , which was described for the first time by angervall and stener in 1965 , is a rare complication of dm . it is usually seen in long - standing dm along with complications , such as , nephropathy , retinopathy and neuropathy . until now it commonly occurs in the thigh muscles and we have been able to find only five patients with upper extremity involvement.[46 ] in this article , we describe a patient with poorly controlled dm and muscle infarction of her forearm . a 58 year - old - woman with a three - week history of left upper forearm pain was admitted to our hospital . she noted a history of type ii dm , which was diagnosed five months ago . her current condition began with a sudden onset of swelling and pain in the left forearm , extending to her fingers . before this recent admission , several antibiotics and non - steroidal anti - inflammatory drugs were prescribed for her , with no improvement . on physical examination the white blood cell count was 17500 ( normal , 480010800 ) with 80% neutrophils ( normal , 3375% ) . fasting blood glucose was 235 mg / dl ( normal , 70105 ) and hemoglobin a1c was 6.5% ( normal , < 6% ) . other laboratory results were as follows : erythrocyte sedimentation rate ( esr ) 17 mm / hour ( normal , 025 ) , creatine kinase ( ck ) 5930 u / l ( normal , 25175 ) , lactate dehydrogenase ( ldh ) 780 u / l ( normal , 0480 ) , aspartate transaminase 89 u / l ( normal , < 31 ) , and alanine transaminase 53 u / l ( normal , < 31 ) . magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) showed diffuse edema and abnormal low and high signal intensities in the soft tissues of the left forearm [ figure 1 ] . her muscle enzymes were gradually decreased to 143 and 504 for creatine kinase ( ck ) and lactate dehydrogenase ( ldh ) , respectively . she was discharged without any swelling or pain eight days later . on a follow - up visit after two months , she did not have any complaint in her forearm . after three months , post - treatment mri was performed that showed no...

diabetic muscle infarction ( dmi ) is an unusual complication of diabetes mellitus . it is usually seen in long - standing diabetes mellitus . this article presents a case of dmi in the left forearm of a 58-year - old woman . she had a swollen forearm . the level of creatine kinase was 5930 u / l . her condition was initially suspected for either cellulitis or venous thrombosis . a magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) study of the forearm showed diffuse edema and abnormal signals of the left forearm . the diagnosis of dmi was made . she was treated conservatively and her symptoms resolved within a short period of time . dmi should be considered as a differential diagnosis of any painful and swollen limb in diabetic patients .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: a 43-year - old man had sudden blurring of vision , metamorphopsia , and paracentral scotoma in his left eye on the second postoperative day of dacryocystorhinostomy operation on the same side . ocular examination showed best - corrected visual acuity of 20/20 in the right eye and 20/80 in the left eye . fundus fluorescein angiogram detected multiple leakage sites with smokestack pattern because of pooling of the dye under the neurosensory retinal detachment in the macula [ fig . 1 ] . after one week of omission of the nasal drops , there was a gradual resolution of symptoms . fundus photograph and fluorescein angiogram of the left eye showing few hyperfluorescent lesions within the foveal avascular zone and along the superior arcade , from the early venous phase , with evidence of profuse leakage along with pooling of dye during the late phase , indicative of cscr central serous chorioretinopathy is a multifactorial disease , which took many years to reach the precise clinical definition because of controversial etiopathology . it is usually associated with corticosteroid use , type a personality , organ transplantation , pregnancy , hypertension , and psychopharmacologic medication . recently , we have also reported a case of bilateral cscr following one intraarticular injection of corticosteroid . in this patient or case , only a topical instillation of xylometazoline in nasal mucosa produced cscr . it is documented that post - traumatic stress is associated with excessive release of catecholamines . topical application of xylometazoline , an alpha adrenergic receptor agonist , through the nasal route can cause severe systemic side effects . even a single intranasal dose of xylometazoline has been shown to be associated with coma in a neonate and sudden death in a 13-year - old boy due to the rupture of an intracranial aneurysm . in an observational case series of cscr associated with the use of sympathomimetic agents , occurrence of one case of cscr followed the use of oxymetazoline nasal spray three to...

a 43-year - old man developed central serous choroidoretinopathy in his left eye following dacryocystorhinostomy operation on the same side . he was using xylometazoline nasal drops in his left nostril . action of xylometazoline or the stress related to the operation or the effect of both factors played the role in the causation of this ocular condition . omission of nasal drops or relief from stress resulted in full recovery of vision and complete resolution of symptoms within one month .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the use of sound information is a growing area of application of signal processing techniques in healthcare and biomedicine . in particular , multiple groups have reported on the development of systems that analyze audio recordings of patients and identify bouts of coughing [ 15 ] or other sounds indicative of health concerns [ 69 ] . in addition to their value as a monitoring or screening tool , the automated nature of these systems potentially enables new modes of disease management , especially in conjunction with advances in mobile technology . moreover , the type of approach presented here may be especially suited to improving outcomes and addressing chronic disease in populations that have been previously underserved . this paper studies cough as a symptom of asthma in adolescents . for a variety of reasons , including social and developmental pressures , adolescents with an asthma diagnosis typically have an inaccurate understanding of their disease condition primarily due to poor symptom perception or downplaying symptoms [ 11 , 12 ] . these issues can undermine effective symptom monitoring and medication adherence which can ultimately lead to poor condition management and high healthcare utilization . to address this problem a device is proposed that continuously monitors asthma symptoms , particularly coughing which is the most common symptom in pediatric asthma patients [ 13 , 14 ] . the identified symptoms can be stored and later retrieved by a patient or healthcare provider as an objective reference indicating the levels of asthma control . mobile technology has advanced sufficiently such that the hardware requirements of a personal asthma monitoring device are already met in existing consumer electronics platforms . the problem may , therefore , be approached within the context of mobile application development . owing to its broad install base and mature software development kit ( sdk ) apple 's ios devices were the target platform ( the 4 g ipod touch specifically ) . like other audio systems...

the development of an automated system for asthma monitoring ( adam ) is described . this consists of a consumer electronics mobile platform running a custom application . the application acquires an audio signal from an external user - worn microphone connected to the device analog - to - digital converter ( microphone input ) . this signal is processed to determine the presence or absence of cough sounds . symptom tallies and raw audio waveforms are recorded and made easily accessible for later review by a healthcare provider . the symptom detection algorithm is based upon standard speech recognition and machine learning paradigms and consists of an audio feature extraction step followed by a hidden markov model based viterbi decoder that has been trained on a large database of audio examples from a variety of subjects . multiple hidden markov model topologies and orders are studied . performance of the recognizer is presented in terms of the sensitivity and the rate of false alarm as determined in a cross - validation test .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: camel milk has been used for centuries as a medicinal drink in middle eastern , asian , and african cultures ( 13 ) . camel milk products in the world are popular due to increasing demand and are typically available in pharmacies ( 4 ) . this systematic review has been conducted to evaluate the nutritional value and medicinal properties of camel milk in children , based on historical and clinical evidences . camel milk has been used for centuries in middle eastern societies , and its many medicinal benefits need to be established by conventional medicine . the camel is an animal that has been integrated into daily life of many societies in the pre - modern world and is still greatly respected in the cultures of these societies . thus , traditional medicine books and documents provide many quotes about the camel s mild benefits and nutritional values . avicenna stated therapeutic effects for camel milk in spleen , kidney , liver , cancer , and children diseases have been reported ( 8) . thus , in this comparative review , we aim to investigate the issues discussed with referring to the conventional medicine evidence . according to traditional iranian medicine ( tim ) , the composition of camel milk is closer to human milk and of high nutritional value and therapeutic effects ( 57 ) . subsequently , the main aim of this research is to understand the various diseases that might be alleviated or prevented with camel milk and relating them to the biochemical content of camel milk and discussing the causality of these benefits based on traditional resources and conventional medicine research . besides , we aim to evaluate camel milk in the cases or conditions for treatment of disease . in this review , the databases , including pubmed , scopus , sid , iranmedex , and google scholar , have been searched using the search strategy of : ( camel and milk ) and ( autism or food allergy or milk allergy or children or diarrhea ) for randomized controlled clinical trials , systematic reviews and/or meta - analysis , case...

introductioncamel milk is the closest to a human mother s milk . camel milk is different from other milks , however , having low sugar and cholesterol , high minerals ( sodium , potassium , iron , copper , zinc and magnesium , and vitamin c ) . the milk is considered have medicinal characteristics as well . this systematic review is aimed at determining and reporting nutritional values and medicinal characteristics of camel milk in children.methodsthe search strategy of the current review is ( camel and milk ) and ( autism or food allergy or milk allergy or children or diarrhea . the search was conducted via pubmed , scopus , and google scholar . also two persian scientific databases ( sid and iranmedex ) and international congresses were investigated . full - text papers and abstracts on the topic of camel milk , evaluating nutritional value and medicinal properties , were included in this systematic review.resultsout of the 472 records found in the resources , 35 related studies were included in the final analysis . the result showed that camel milk is highly nutritious and is safe for consumption by children.conclusionit seems that many researchers did not follow a specific guideline for reporting and confirming the therapeutic properties of camel milk in children , but there is evidence denoting the importance , trials , and investigations of its usability and benefits . camel milk as a supplemental treatment seems less invasive and costly than specialist care , medications , alternative treatments , and behavioral interventions . based on our findings , camel milk is safer for children , effective in the treatment of autism , improves general well - being , promotes body natural defenses , is a good nutritional source , and can helps the daily nutritional needs of humans .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: tear film studies have progressed a lot in the past few years , from the traditional quantitative tests like schirmer test , and tear meniscus height measurement , and the qualitative test of tear break - up time ( tbut ) , to anterior segment optical coherence tomography ( as oct ) measured tear film height and the dynamic tear film studies frequently used nowadays using computerized videokeratoscopy . a lot of studies pointed to the fact that diabetes mellitus greatly affects the tear film function and stability . decreased schirmer 1 test values and shorter but were positively correlated with the subjective severity of dry eye symptoms in type 2 diabetic patients . moreover , the decreased tear film function was found to be more severe in patients with pdr than in those with npdr . other studies tested the corneal sensitivity , corneal epithelial integrity , and conjunctival epithelium ( using impression cytology ) and showed that the degree of keratoepitheliopathy was marked , and the corneal sensitivity , tbut , and tear secretion were all significantly reduced in the diabetic patients . conjunctival impression cytology showed conjunctival squamous metaplasia and lower goblet cell count in diabetic patients . all these parameters were related to the poor metabolic control , the presence of diabetic neuropathy , and the stage of diabetic retinopathy . in fact , a recent study stated that tear film instability could be a marker of , or rather a predictor for , the occurrence of diabetic neuropathy in type 1 diabetes patients . misra and coresearchers found a positive correlation between tear film stability and corneal subbasal nerve density ( measured by corneal in vivo confocal microscopy ) which was statistically significant ( p = 0.04 ) ; they also found that decreased tear film stability was associated with increasing age and duration of diabetes . recent tests for assessment of the tear film quantity include as oct measurement of the tear wedge area , or the tear meniscus height of the inferior tear...

purpose . to assess the tear film quantity and correlate it with the quality and stability of the tear film in diabetics and compare them to age matched controls . introduction . diabetes affects tear film parameters in multiple ways . poor metabolic control and neuropathy are postulated factors . to further understand how diabetes affects tear film parameters this study was conducted . subjects and methods . tear meniscus height was measured by anterior segment oct , along with tear thinning time , a subtype of noninvasive tear break - up time , and blinking rate per minute which were all recorded for 22 diabetic patients . correlations between these tear film parameters were studied and then compared to 16 age matched controls . results . a statistically significant difference was found in blinking rate between the diabetic and the control group ( p = 0.002 ) , with higher blinking rate among diabetics . all tear film parameters were negatively correlated with duration of diabetes . a positive correlation was found between tear film volume and stability . conclusion . diabetes affects the tear film in various ways . diabetics should be examined for dry eye signs even in absence of symptoms which may be masked by associated neuropathy . duration of diabetes has an impact on tear film status .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: freeze - fracture electron microscopy was established as a major technique in ultrastructure research over 30 years ago . when biological specimens are in the frozen state , cellular bilayer lipid membranes have a plane of weakness in their hydrophobic interior ; so if the sample is fractured , the fracture plane will split the membrane into half - membrane leaflets , each corresponding to a phospholipid monolayer with associated proteins . the result is a three - dimensional perspective of the membranous organization of the cell , with en face views of the membrane interior . these details are made visible in the electron microscope by making a very fine platinum - carbon replica of the fracture plane . the platinum is evaporated onto the specimen at an angle , so that it is deposited in varying thickness according to the topography at the fractured surface . in this way , high resolution details of membrane structure are revealed that can not be seen by other techniques . by freeze - fracture , the distribution and organization of integral membrane proteins ( seen as intramembrane particles ) , and other specialized features , the freeze - fracture technique revolutionized the way we look at membranes , and its contribution to our knowledge of membrane structure was unrivalled , but one limitation remained the need to identify the chemical nature of the structural components visualized . without this knowledge , the functions of newly discovered structural features remained speculative . thus , the combination of cytochemistry with freeze - fracture was a widely recognized goal . the technical challenges involved in developing effective techniques in freeze - fracture cytochemistry were considerable and took several decades to be overcome . of all the techniques in freeze - fracture cytochemistry attempted and tested over the last three decades [ 47 ] , the freeze - fracture replica immunolabeling ( fril ) technique has proven to be the most successful , and is currently having a substantial impact in...

lipid droplets are not merely storage depots for superfluous intracellular lipids in times of hyperlipidemic stress , but metabolically active organelles involved in cellular homeostasis . our concepts on the metabolic functions of lipid droplets have come from studies on lipid droplet - associated proteins . this realization has made the study of proteins , such as pat family proteins , caveolins , and several others that are targeted to lipid droplets , an intriguing and rapidly developing area of intensive inquiry . our existing understanding of the structure , protein organization , and biogenesis of the lipid droplet has relied heavily on microscopical techniques that lack resolution and the ability to preserve native cellular and protein composition . freeze - fracture replica immunogold labeling overcomes these disadvantages and can be used to define at high resolution the precise location of lipid droplet - associated proteins . in this paper illustrative examples of how freeze - fracture immunocytochemistry has contributed to our understanding of the spatial organization in the membrane plane and function of pat family proteins and caveolin-1 are presented . by revisiting the lipid droplet with freeze - fracture immunocytochemistry , new perspectives have emerged which challenge prevailing concepts of lipid droplet biology and may hopefully provide a timely impulse for many ongoing studies .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: thyroid eye disease ( ted ) is an autoimmune disease involving the retroocular tissues associated with graves ' disease [ 1 , 2 ] . typical signs and symptoms include proptosis , retroorbital pain , tearing , conjunctival redness and edema , corneal lesions , impaired extraocular motility with or without diplopia , periorbital edema , visual impairment , and , rarely , blindness . treatment options for ted include immunosuppressive agents , radiotherapy , and various surgical procedures such as orbital decompression , squint surgery , and correction of eyelid retraction [ 35 ] . glucocorticoids are still the most widely used immunosuppressive agents for the treatment of ted and appear to be the most effective for associated soft tissue inflammation , optic neuropathy , and extraocular muscle impairment [ 6 , 7 ] . the main disadvantages of glucocorticoid therapy are the potential recurrence of the disease after discontinuation and the side effects in long - term treatment . several alternative therapies have been proposed to manage resistant ted such as orbital radiation therapy , several other immunosuppressive agents , and biological drugs . however , the effectiveness of these treatments is still widely debated in the literature [ 815 ] . the aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of methotrexate used as single therapy in a group of patients with recurrence of the active ted after withdrawal of corticosteroids due to the onset of side - effects . this is a retrospective comparative case series of 36 patients , from 2001 to 2010 , who experienced reactivation of ted after withdrawal of corticosteroid therapy because of side - effects . patients with sight threatening for compressive optic neuropathy were excluded from this study as they needed urgent treatment such as high - dose steroids or surgical decompression to prevent optic atrophy . before methotrexate therapy , all patients received as initial treatment intravenous pulse - methylprednisolone therapy at a dose of 10 mg / kg twice a week for...

background / aim . to evaluate the efficacy of methotrexate for the treatment of thyroid eye disease ( ted ) . methods . 36 consecutive patients with active ted , previously treated with corticosteroids but stopped due to the occurrence of side effects , were commenced on methotrexate therapy . two different weekly doses were administered depending on the weight of the patient ( 7.5 mg or 10 mg ) . clinical activity score ( 7-cas ) , visual acuity ( va ) , ocular motility , exophthalmos , and eyelid position were retrospectively evaluated at 3 , 6 , and 12 months and compared with baseline data . results . there was a statistically significant improvement in 7-cas at 3 , 6 , and 12 months after treatment ( p < 0.0001 ) . there was no significant change in visual acuity . ocular motility disturbances improved at 6 and 12 months ( p < 0.001 ) . there was no significant change in exophthalmos ( mean 24 mm , sd 3 mm ) or eyelid position ( marginal reflex distance mean 6 mm , sd 1.5 mm ) during the follow - up period . no side effects were registered . conclusions . methotrexate therapy is effective in reducing cas and ocular motility disturbances . no significant improvement in proptosis or eyelid retraction should be expected from this treatment . eventually , it might be considered a suitable alternative treatment in ted for patients who can not tolerate steroids .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: genital herpes is most commonly caused by infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 ( hsv-2 ) , and is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases ( std ) worldwide [ 13 ] . the incidence of new infections is about 1 million cases per year in the united states . at least 50 million persons in the united states have hsv-2 infection . however , 86% of these individuals are unaware of their diagnosis , either because they do not have symptoms or because they have symptoms that go unrecognized [ 3 , 6 ] . previous studies demonstrated both viral shedding and recurrences are more frequent in the first year after initial hsv-2 infection [ 711 ] . in one natural history study , women who acquired genital herpes within a year before enrollment had more frequent shedding compared to women who had been infected for one year or more . another study found that individuals diagnosed for 6 months were twice as likely to shed asymptomatically compared to those diagnosed for more than 6 months . collectively , higher viral shedding and recurrence rates in subjects with newly acquired infection may translate to an increased risk of transmitting virus to uninfected sex partners . in studies of immunocompetent adults with a known recurrence pattern , hsv-2 dna as detected by polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) testing was present on approximately 10% of days [ 12 , 13 ] . several investigations have supported the effect of suppressive antiviral therapy on the reduction of viral shedding in patients with an established recurrence pattern [ 9 , 11 , 1417 ] . more recent studies have shown that suppressive antiviral therapy is as effective at controlling symptomatic disease in recently infected persons as it is in those with prevalent infection [ 18 , 19 ] . because clinical and subclinical reactivation of hsv may result in the sexual transmission of hsv to a partner , suppressing viral shedding is important at both the individual and population level . the current study was conducted to provide additional natural...

objective . genital herpes ( gh ) recurrences and viral shedding are more frequent in the first year after initial hsv-2 infection . the objective of this study was to provide the first evaluation of valacyclovir 1 g once daily compared to placebo in reducing viral shedding in subjects newly diagnosed with gh . methods . 70 subjects were randomized to receive valacyclovir 1 g daily or placebo in a crossover design for 60 days with a 7-day washout period . a daily swab of the genital / anal - rectal area was self - collected for hsv-2 detection by pcr . subjects attended the clinic for routine study visits and gh recurrence visits . treatment differences were assessed using a nonparametric crossover analysis . results . 52 subjects had at least one pcr measurement in both treatment periods and comprised the primary efficacy population . valacyclovir significantly reduced hsv-2 shedding during all days compared to placebo ( mean 2.9% versus 13.5% of all days ( p < .01 ) , a 78% reduction ) . valacyclovir significantly reduced subclinical hsv-2 shedding during all days compared to placebo ( mean 2.4% versus 11.0% of all days ( p < .01 ) , a 78% reduction ) . however , 79% of subjects had no gh recurrences while receiving valacyclovir compared to 52% of subjects receiving placebo ( p < .01 ) . conclusion . in this study , the frequency of total and subclinical hsv-2 shedding was greater than reported in earlier studies involving subjects with a history of symptomatic genital recurrences . our study is the first to demonstrate a significant reduction in viral shedding with valacyclovir 1 g daily compared to placebo in a population of subjects newly diagnosed with hsv-2 infection .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: dengue is an arboviral disease endemic in most of the tropical countries with recurrent epidemics . although dengue is known to cause hepatic involvement commonly , it only occasionally results in fulminant liver failure ( flf ) , which has a high mortality . n - acetyl cysteine ( nac ) , a precursor of glutathione , is an effective antioxidant scavenging for oh radicals have shown to be effective mainly in acetaminophen and even in non - acetaminophen - induced flf . activated recombinant factor vii ( rfviia ) was initially developed to overcome the limitations of existing treatments for patients with congenital hemophilia and inhibitors . clinical success in this arena led to experimental use in other coagulopathies as well . to the best of our knowledge , this is the first reported case of dengue hemorrhagic fever complicated by fulminant liver failure and massive hemorrhage successfully managed with nac and rfviia . a 37-year - old previously healthy man who was a teetotaler admitted with fever , repeated vomiting , body aches , and fatigue for four days . examination revealed a temperature of 100f , tachycardia ( 106/min ) , normotension , and tachypnea ( 28/minute ) . investigations showed leukocyte count ; 5.1 10/l ( neutrophils 53% , lymphocytes 41% ) , and platelets ; 60 10/l , hemoglobin ; 14.1 g / dl with hematocrit of 43.4% , aspartate aminotransferase ( ast ) ; 220 u / l , alanine aminotransferase ( alt ) ; 157 u / l on admission . presumptive diagnosis of dhf was made considering the clinical picture and prevailing outbreak in the country . close monitoring with replacement of maintenance volume of fluids was started in both oral and intravenous means . during next 36 hours , he had clinical and hematological evidence of ongoing plasma leakage but remained hemodynamically stable . next day , he was shifted to intensive care unit due to agitation and drowsiness . platelet count dropped to less than 10 10/l during day 5 and 6 of the illness and subsequently started rising gradually . u / l ) in...

consensus on management of complicated cases of dengue infection is evolving . dengue hemorrhagic fever ( dhf ) occasionally progress to fulminant liver failure with high fatality rate . inadvertent use of blood products to control massive bleeding in dengue shock syndrome may worsen fluid overload and subsequently the multi - organ dysfunction . we report a case of 37-years - old sri lankan man who developed fulminant liver failure and massive bleeding associated with dhf , subsequently recovered completely with supportive measures including administration of n - acetyl cysteine and activated recombinant factor vii . in conclusion , prevention of ischemic injury to liver and adoption of early aggressive supportive measures in complicated cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever is crucial for a favorable outcome . indications for rfviia to arrest uncontrolled internal bleeding and use of nac in non - acetaminophen - induced acute liver failure in complicated dhf are a platform for discussion .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the choroid , a well - vascularized connective tissue , resides between the retina pigment epithelium and the sclera and extends from the ora serrata anteriorly to the optic nerve posteriorly . the choroid receives most of the ocular blood flow ( ~85% ) and has one of the highest metabolic activities in the body . the physiological functions of the choroid include providing vascular supply to the anterior optic nerve head and retina , emmetropization , thermoregulation , and waste - product removal.1,2 thus , a structurally and functionally healthy choroid plays an essential role in the function of the macula and peripapillary area . the abnormal choroid has been associated with many macular diseases , such as age - related macular degeneration , central serous chorioretinopathy , diabetic retinopathy , behet s disease , and retinitis pigmentosa.37 some previous studies have also reported that abnormal peripapillary choroidal blood supply may have a role in the development of glaucomatous optic neuropathy.810 in this respect , determination of peripapillary choroidal thickness ( ct ) in a healthy population may be helpful for displaying the pathological alterations in peripapillary areas , such as glaucoma , and might be a useful tool in clinical practice . until recently , the choroid could only be evaluated by indocyanine green angiography and ultrasonography . the development of spectral - domain optical coherence tomography has recently presented enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography ( edi - oct ) , which allows in vivo examination and quantification of the choroid.11 the aim of the study reported here was to determine the normal peripapillary ct , measured by edi - oct , in healthy turkish volunteers . participants were recruited from the gaziantep university school of medicine department of ophthalmology between january and july 2014 . the ethics committee of gaziantep university school of medicine approval and informed consent from all patients in accordance with the declaration of...

aimthe objective of the study reported here was to investigate the normal peripapillary choroidal thickness ( ct ) , measured by enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography ( edi - oct ) , in healthy turkish volunteers.materials and methodsin this prospective cross - sectional study , 57 eyes of 57 healthy turkish subjects were enrolled . each participant underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination and peripapillary ct measurement using edi-oct.resultsthe mean age of the 25 female and 32 male patients in the study was 30.910.6 years ( range , 1856 years ) . the mean peripapillary ct at the superior , inferior , nasal , and temporal sites was 22557 , 18347 , 22057 , and 23359 m , respectively . the inferior peripapillary ct value was significantly lower than the peripapillary ct values ( p<0.001 for all ) , whereas no significant differences were found between the superior , nasal , and temporal peripapillary ct values.conclusionthe findings of the study revealed that turkish people had significantly lower peripapillary ct values in the inferior quadrant than in the superior , nasal , and temporal quadrants .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: applying optimum amount of force during orthodontic treatment is a challenging task for the orthodontist . amount of force to be applied during orthodontic treatment is one of the problems encountered in orthodontics.1 the quantification of stress in the periodontal ligament ( pdl ) is an important concept , as stress in this tissue is transmitted to alveolus with subsequent bone remodeling and tooth movement . infinite element method ( fem ) studies , the linear models are widely used . as compared to the linear static analysis , non - linear analysis gives more realistic results as they closely reflect the dynamic nature of the oral emvironment.2 for the present study maxillary central incisor was modeled into a three - dimensional ( 3d ) fem model because it undergoes the most detailed tooth movement and is at the second - highest for root resorption after the maxillary lateral incisor.3 therefore , the purpose of this study is to analyze the stresses in pdl by applying intrusive and torque movements by a 3d fem and to compare these stresses with linear and non - linear analyses in a maxillary central incisor model . to evaluate the stress distribution in pdl on application of orthodontic load ( vertical intrusive force and lingual root torque ) on maxillary central incisors with a 3d fem analysis using linear properties and then application of equivalent force magnitude using non - linear properties.to compare the differences of stress distribution between linear and non - linear properties . to evaluate the stress distribution in pdl on application of orthodontic load ( vertical intrusive force and lingual root torque ) on maxillary central incisors with a 3d fem analysis using linear properties and then application of equivalent force magnitude using non - linear properties . to compare the differences of stress distribution between linear and non - linear properties to evaluate the stress distribution in pdl on application of orthodontic load ( vertical intrusive force and lingual root torque )...

background : simulation of periodontal ligament ( pdl ) using non - linear finite element method ( fem ) analysis gives better insight into understanding of the biology of tooth movement . the stresses in the pdl were evaluated for intrusion and lingual root torque using non - linear properties.materials and methods : a three - dimensional ( 3d ) fem model of the maxillary incisors was generated using solidworks modeling software . stresses in the pdl were evaluated for intrusive and lingual root torque movements by 3d fem using ansys software . these stresses were compared with linear and non - linear analyses.results:for intrusive and lingual root torque movements , distribution of stress over the pdl was within the range of optimal stress value as proposed by lee , but was exceeding the force system given by proffit as optimum forces for orthodontic tooth movement with linear properties . when same force load was applied in non - linear analysis , stresses were more compared to linear analysis and were beyond the optimal stress range as proposed by lee for both intrusive and lingual root torque . to get the same stress as linear analysis , iterations were done using non - linear properties and the force level was reduced.conclusion:this shows that the force level required for non - linear analysis is lesser than that of linear analysis .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: cryptophane - a was the first cryptophane synthesized by collet et al . in 1981 . it is composed of two equivalent cyclotribenzylene ( ctb ) caps bound together by three ethylene - dioxy linkers . on each phenyl ring a has been the subject of many interesting studies in the field of host it has a hydrophobic three - dimensional cavity capable of binding small organic molecules such as chloromethanes as well as xenon atoms . the previously investigated chloromethane complexes of cryptophane - c revealed a surprisingly high affinity constant for dichloromethane and relatively low affinity constant for chloroform . this has brought up the question of what structural properties have the largest effect on the complexation . cryptophane - a and -c are both anti - isomers , but the latter has nonequivalent caps with only one of the caps carrying the methoxy substituents on the phenyl groups ( see molecules 1 and 2 in scheme 1 ) . apart from this , the two molecules 1 and 2 are identical . they also have the same cavity volumes . as will be discussed in the present work , cryptophane - a in solution is in exchange between its conformers similarly to cryptophane - c . the encapsulation of a chloromethane guest changes the probability distribution of the conformers as it has been seen before . nuclear magnetic resonance ( nmr ) is a perfect tool for characterizing the encapsulation process but also for following the guest - induced changes in the host . these chemical events can be explained , for instance , by means of nmr spin echo experiments . in this work , translational diffusion was investigated in order to reveal the eventual presence of another guest , water , inside the host cavity . meiboom gill ( cpmg ) relaxation dispersion methodology was dedicated to shed light on the host conformational exchange . obviously , upon encapsulation , both h and c spectra displayed changes of the peak positions . it is not only the peak position that is very...

host guest complexes between cryptophane - a as host and dichloromethane and chloroform as guests are investigated using 1h and 13c nmr spectroscopy . moreover , a related cryptophane , with the methoxy groups replaced by butoxy units ( cryptophane - but ) , and its complexes with the same guests were also studied . variable temperature spectra showed effects of chemical exchange between the free and bound guests , as well as of conformational exchange of the host . the guest exchange was studied quantitatively by exchange spectroscopy or line shape analysis . extraction of kinetic and thermodynamic parameters led to the characterization of the affinity between guests and hosts . on the other hand , the host exchange was investigated by means of 13c carr purcell meiboom gill ( cpmg ) relaxation dispersion which aims at the determination of the transverse relaxation rate r2 , the inverse of the transverse relaxation time t2 , as a function of the repetition of the pulses in a cpmg train . the variation of the measured transverse relaxation rate with the repetition rate cpmg indicated conformational exchange occurring on the microsecond millisecond time scale . structural information was obtained through measurements of cross - relaxation rates , both within the host and between the host and the guest protons . the nmr results were supported by dft calculations .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: acute myocardial ischemic injury is associated with various pathophysiological responses , including inflammatory activity with migration of neutrophils to the ischemic site . although early blood reperfusion to the ischemic myocardium is undoubtedly beneficial in the setting of acute myocardial infarction , there is much evidence that re - establishment of coronary blood flow helps propagate inflammatory processes , enhancing tissue destruction and contributing to myocardial dysfunction.1,2 attempts to limit myocardial necrosis and improve outcomes in acute myocardial infarction by modulating the inflammatory process have long been proposed . around thirty years ago , investigators demonstrated that some , but not all , anti - inflammatory agents could reduce the size of myocardial infarction in laboratory animals.3 on the other hand , no clear benefits and even evidence of deleterious effects were seen in human studies of anti - inflammatory drugs in acute coronary syndromes,47 although meloxicam was associated with a better outcome in a small trial.8 more recently , with the advent of selective cyclooxygenase ( cox)-2 inhibitors , the issue of anti - inflammatory drugs in acute myocardial infarction has again been brought to the forefront . cox is an enzyme that converts free arachidonic acid into prostaglandins , which mediate inflammation . differing from the cox-1 isoform , which is constitutively expressed and has a housekeeping role , cox-2 is usually absent or minimally present in most tissues but is induced under certain conditions such as inflammation . indeed , cox-2 is typically considered a pro - inflammatory enzyme , and selective cox-2 inhibitors have been widely prescribed for acute and chronic inflammatory disorders . importantly , this class of drugs has been associated with adverse cardiac events in humans , raising serious concerns about their safety.913 the mechanisms by which cox-2 inhibitors may harm the heart have not been fully elucidated . it has been shown that under certain...

backgroundacute myocardial infarction is associated with tissue inflammation . early coronary reperfusion clearly improves the outcome but may help propagate the inflammatory response and enhance tissue damage . cyclooxygenase-2 is an enzyme that catalyzes the initial step in the formation of inflammatory prostaglandins from arachidonic acid . cyclooxygenase-2 levels are increased when ischemic cardiac events occur . the overall function of cox-2 in the inflammatory process generated by myocardial ischemic damage has not yet been elucidated.goalthe objective of this study was to determine whether a selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor ( rofecoxib ) could alter the evolution of acute myocardial infarction after reperfusion.methods and resultsthis study was performed with 48 mongrel dogs divided into two groups : controls and those treated with the drug . all animals were prepared for left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion . the dogs then underwent 180 minutes of coronary occlusion , followed by 30 minutes of reperfusion . blood samples were collected from the venous sinus immediately before coronary occlusion and after 30 minutes of reperfusion for measurements of cpk - mb , cpk - mbm and troponin i. during the experiment we observed the mean blood pressure , heart rate and coronary flow.the coronary flow and heart rate did not change , but in the control group , there was blood pressure instability , in addition to maximal levels of cpk - mb post - infarction . the same results were observed for cpk - mbm and troponin i.conclusionin a canine model of myocardial ischemia - reperfusion , selective inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 with rofecoxib was not associated with early detrimental effects on the hemodynamic profile or the gross extent of infarction ; in fact , it may be beneficial by limiting cell necrosis .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: migraine is a highly prevalent illness , and women of reproductive ages are more affected by it than men or women in other age groups ( 1 ) . many researchers have supported the view that behavioral interventions such as biofeedback and relaxation , either alone or in combination , can be effective for the treatment of headache ( 2 - 7 ) . especially , thermal biofeedback with or without combined autogenic training is known to be effective for the treatment of migraine headache ( 5 , 8) . in addition , some studies showed that the effect of the behavioral treatment is durable ( 9 , 10 ) . there have been no controlled studies about the efficacy of biofeedback and relaxation training for patients with migraine in korea , and few studies have been conducted to investigate the direct association between mood states , including anxiety or depression , and headache activity . the mechanism underlying the efficacy of biofeedback treatment and the role of psychological factors in migraine treatment are still unclear , though various mood states , including anxiety and depression , and some cognitive factors are known to be related to pain regulation ( 11 - 13 ) . psychological conditions including anxiety and depression have been reported to have a strong association with migraine ( 12 - 14 ) . thus , in this study , we examined the hypothesis that biofeedback - assisted autogenic training is effective for the treatment of korean female patients with migraine and that the improvement of psychological factors , such as anxiety and depression , is associated with the reduction of headache activity in migraine patients who are given biofeedback treatment . thirty - two patients , who had migraine headache with or without aura , as defined by the international headache society criteria ( 15 ) , participated in this study , from march 2003 until december 2006 . the patients were female subjects aged 20 to 40 yr who had a body mass index ( bmi ) ranging from 18 to 27.5 . the patients were randomly allocated to one of two...

biofeedback with or without combined autogenic training is known to be effective for the treatment of migraine . this study aimed to examine the effect of biofeedback treatment on headache activity , anxiety , and depression in korean female patients with migraine headache . patients were randomized into the treatment group ( n=17 ) and monitoring group ( n=15 ) . mood states including anxiety and depression , and psychophysiological variables such as mean skin temperature of the patients were compared with those of the normal controls ( n=21 ) . we found greater treatment response rate ( defined as 50% reduction in headache index ) in patients with biofeedback - assisted autogenic training than in monitoring group . the scores on the anxiety and depression scales in the patients receiving biofeedback - assisted autogenic training decreased after the biofeedback treatment . moreover , the decrease in their anxiety levels was significantly related to the treatment outcome . this result suggests that the biofeedback - assisted autogenic training is effective for the treatment of migraine and its therapeutic effect is closely related to the improvement of the anxiety level .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the emerging discipline of cancer survivorship research includes the study of the consequences of cancer diagnosis and its treatment among children and adults who have experienced cancer . while the united states ( usa ) has conducted the majority of research on adult cancer survivorship [ 26 ] , the united kingdom and canada have conducted large - scale cohort studies of childhood cancer survivorship [ 7 , 8 ] . as more countries are beginning to address issues related to adult survivorship [ 920 ] , it will be important to consider how transferrable findings will be across cultures and nations . identifying generalizable and nongeneralizable research among cultures will hasten what we learn about cancer survivorship . this essay presents an overview of cancer survivorship research and its challenges and discusses in detail three examples of pronounced cross - cultural challenges currently facing the field . finally , future courses of action within the field of comparative cancer survivorship research are suggested . according to the us institute of medicine , cancer survivorship research encompasses the physical , psychosocial , and economic consequences of cancer diagnosis and its treatment among both pediatric and adult survivors of cancer . it seeks to identify , examine , prevent , and control adverse cancer- and treatment - related outcomes and to provide a knowledge base regarding optimal follow - up care and surveillance of cancer survivors . lastly , cancer survivorship research aspires to optimize health after cancer treatment , seeking to promote healthy lifestyles and behaviors . a cancer survivor is a person diagnosed with cancer , current or past , who is still living . originally , the medical community limited the term to denote persons who remained alive and disease - free for a minimum of five years , thus reflecting cure . today 's cancer survivors may be disease - free or not and may experience no , minor or major short- or long - term effects such as pain , sexual dysfunction ,...

cancer survivorship research includes the study of physical , psychosocial , and economic consequences of cancer diagnosis and treatment among pediatric and adult cancer survivors . historically , the majority of cancer survivorship studies were from the united states , but survivorship issues are increasingly being addressed in other developed countries . cross - cultural studies remain , however , scarce . the degree to which knowledge attained may or may not be transferred across cultures , countries , or regions is not known . some important challenges for comparative research are therefore discussed in a cross - cultural perspective . several substantive and methodological challenges that complicate the execution of cross - cultural cancer survivorship research are presented with examples and discussed to facilitate comparative research efforts in the establishment of new survivorship cohorts and in the planning and implementation of survivorship studies . comparative research is one key to understanding the nature of cancer survivorship , distinguishing modifiable from nonmodifiable factors at individual , hospital , societal , and system levels and may thus guide appropriate interventions . lastly , suggested future courses of action within the field of comparative cancer survivorship research are provided .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: currently , the uniprotkb protein sequence database contains > 17 million protein sequences ( 1 ) . this wealth of data is helping us to understand biology at an ever increasing rate . a large fraction of these sequences can be grouped into a few thousand common protein families . proteins within these families often share common functions that can allow information experimentally gleaned on one protein to be transferred to uncharacterized ones . this process of transitive annotation is essential to make sense of the rapidly growing amount of sequence data . there are concerns about transitive annotation not being robust and thus leading to numerous annotation errors ( 2 ) . although this phenomenon does occur it seems clear that high - quality manual curation of the protein sequence databases , the careful use of databases of protein families for annotation and feedback from users of protein databases have largely kept the gross errors in check . for example , incorrect protein function assignments from large - scale genome projects in general have not been transferred to hundreds or thousands of other proteins as feared . on the other hand , subtler misannotations such as assigning an incorrect but related enzymatic activity to a protein ( for example phosphorylating the wrong substrate ) occur . due to the lack of experimental work on most proteins a recent estimate for six large enzyme superfamilies studied suggested a range of 563% of incorrect annotations ( 3 ) . a further source of error in the sequence databases is the prediction of spurious genes ( 4 ) . automatic gene prediction methods in prokaryotes are increasingly accurate , glimmer3 , for example , both improves start site prediction relative to glimmer2 and reduces the high false - positive rate for high gc genomes . however , given the large number of proteins being deposited in the sequence databases , it is still likely that many thousands of the included sequences are either wholly spurious or improperly extended , past their true start...

as the deluge of genomic dna sequence grows the fraction of protein sequences that have been manually curated falls . in turn , as the number of laboratories with the ability to sequence genomes in a high - throughput manner grows , the informatics capability of those labs to accurately identify and annotate all genes within a genome may often be lacking . these issues have led to fears about transitive annotation errors making sequence databases less reliable . during the lifetime of the pfam protein families database a number of protein families have been built , which were later identified as composed solely of spurious open reading frames ( orfs ) either on the opposite strand or in a different , overlapping reading frame with respect to the true protein - coding or non - coding rna gene . these families were deleted and are no longer available in pfam . however , we realized that these may perform a useful function to identify new spurious orfs . we have collected these families together in antifam along with additional custom - made families of spurious orfs . this resource currently contains 23 families that identified 1310 spurious proteins in uniprotkb and a further 4119 spurious proteins in a collection of metagenomic sequences . uniprot has adopted antifam as a part of the uniprotkb quality control process and will investigate these spurious proteins for exclusion .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: luminescent metal complexes are increasingly employed as biomolecular and cellular probes due to their unique photophysical properties that make them particularly well suited to monitor biological processes . examples include not only complexes of transition metals such as pt , ir , and ru but also those that incorporate lanthanides , most commonly eu and tb . in particular , the long luminescence lifetime of the emitting metal mitigates the interference of background fluorescence originating from the biological sample . moreover , since the large energy difference between the absorbing and emissive states of these complexes removes self - absorption issues , their luminescence signal intensity is proportional to their concentration over a wide range of values . with this in mind , lanthanide - based molecular probes have been applied to the detection of reactive oxygen species ( ros ) , redox - active metals , ph , and intracellular analytes , such as atp . the continued applications of such metal - based luminescent probes , however , further rely on the ability to limit their cellular association altogether for certain tissue imaging experiments or , alternatively , to direct them to specific cellular regions . prior studies indicate that structural properties of metal complexes , such as their hydrophobicity and size , influence their cell viability and cellular association , including their membrane permeability . although cell - penetrating peptides have been applied to increase the cell uptake of lanthanide complexes , the goal of this project is to modify the intrinsic properties of the metal complex to control cellular association . presented here is a systematic study to evaluate the effects of structural variations on a core structure common to most luminescent lanthanide probes and an investigation of the practicality of such probes for cellular and tissue applications requiring extracellular imaging agents . the most common platform of...

a systematic study of the effect of hydrophobicity and charge on the cell viability and cell association of lanthanide metal complexes is presented . the terbium luminescent probes feature a macrocyclic polyaminocarboxylate ligand ( dota ) in which the hydrophobicity of the antenna and that of the carboxyamide pendant arms are independently varied . three sensitizing antennas were investigated in terms of their function in vitro : 2-methoxyisophthalamide ( iam(ome ) ) , 2-hydroxyisophthalamide ( iam ) , and 6-methylphenanthridine ( phen ) . of these complexes , tb - dota - iam exhibited the highest quantum yield , although the higher cell viability and more facile synthesis of the structurally related tb - dota - iam(ome ) platform renders it more attractive . further modification of this latter core structure with carboxyamide arms featuring hydrophobic benzyl , hexyl , and trifluoro groups as well as hydrophilic amino acid based moieties generated a family of complexes that exhibit high cell viability ( ed50 > 300 m ) regardless of the lipophilicity or the overall complex charge . only the hexyl - substituted complex reduced cell viability to 60% in the presence of 100 m complex . additionally , cellular association was investigated by icp - ms and fluorescence microscopy . surprisingly , the hydrophobic moieties did not increase cell association in comparison to the hydrophilic amino acid derivatives . it is thus postulated that the hydrophilic nature of the 2-methoxyisophthalamide antenna ( iam(ome ) ) disfavors the cellular association of these complexes . as such , responsive luminescent probes based on this scaffold would be appropriate for the detection of extracellular species .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: mandibular angle fracture is the most common mandibular fracture , accounting for 40% of all mandibular fractures1 . mandibular angle fracture is defined as a fracture line between the anterior border of the mandibular ramus and the body of the mandible2 . the management of angle fracture is difficult because of its thin cross - sectional area and its attachment to the masticatory muscles applying forces in different vectors , its abrupt change in curvature , and the presence of lower third molars3 . hanson et al.1 have reported that the presence of a lower third molar doubles the risk of angle fracture , and rajandram et al.4 showed the presence of lower third molars in 60.4% of mandibular angle fractures . partially erupted third molars produce an increased risk of mandibular angle fracture . as a result , previous studies have recommended that individuals such as sports players , who are exposed to high risk of facial trauma , wear protective facial gear and mouth guards4 . some researchers support the extraction of the tooth in the fracture line , as they believe it decreases the risk of infection and the need for removal of the third molars and plate in the future5 . other researchers have shown that extraction of the tooth can lead to loss of bone , increase the difficulty in reduction and plating , and increase both the surgical time of the procedure and the risk to the inferior alveolar nerve6 . the aim of this study was to evaluate the implication of the third molars in the postoperative infection , postoperative nerve injury , bone healing , change in occlusion , and temporomandibular disorder ( tmd ) of the mandibular angle fracture with open reduction and internal fixation ( orif ) . a retrospective review of patients who presented with mandibular angle fracture at our department of oral and maxillofacial surgery , inje university busan paik hospital ( busan , korea ) between january 2011 and december 2015 was conducted , and data were collected by reviewing medical records and radiographs . of...

objectivesthe aim of this study was to evaluate the implication of third molars in postoperative complications of mandibular angle fracture with open reduction and internal fixation ( orif).materials and methodsdata were collected on patients who presented with mandibular angle fracture at our department of oral and maxillofacial surgery between january 2011 and december 2015 . of the 63 total patients who underwent orif and perioperative intermaxillary fixation ( imf ) with an arch bar , 49 patients were identified as having third molars in the fracture line and were followed up with until plate removal . the complications of postoperative infection , postoperative nerve injury , bone healing , and changes in occlusion and temporomandibular joint were evaluated and analyzed using statistical methods.resultsin total , 49 patients had third molars in the fracture line and underwent orif surgery and perioperative imf with an arch bar . the third molar in the fracture line was retained during orif in 39 patients . several patients complained of nerve injury , temporomandibular disorder ( tmd ) , change of occlusion , and postoperative infection around the retained third molar . the third molars were removed during orif surgery in 10 patients . some of these patients complained of nerve injury , but no other complications , such as tmd , change in occlusion , or postoperative infection , were observed . there was no delayed union or nonunion in either of the groups . no statistically significant difference was found between the non - extraction group and the retained teeth group regarding complications after orif.conclusionif the third molar is partially impacted or completely nonfunctional , likely to be involved in pathologic conditions later in life , or possible to remove with the plate simultaneously , extraction of the third molar in the fracture line should be considered during orif surgery of the mandible angle fracture .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma ( hcc ) is increasing in the united states , europe , and worldwide , and has become a serious problem in many countries . patients with chronic liver disease related to hepatitis b or c virus infection are at high risk for developing hcc , and the risk of hcc development becomes higher as fibrosis of the liver advances . indeed , it is reported that the risk of hcc development in cirrhotic patients with hepatitis c virus ( hcv ) infection is as high as 7% per year in japan . interferon ( ifn ) has a potent antiviral effect and has been widely used for the treatment of chronic hcv infection . ifn therapy improves inflammation and fibrosis in the liver of the patients and reduces the risk of hcc development , particularly when it results in sustained virological response . on the other hand , there are several reports that describe hcc development long after the clearance of hcv by successful ifn therapy . therefore , it is still uncertain how long the patients hold the risk of hcc development after the resolution of chronic hcv infection . in the current report , we describe a patient who developed hcc 11 and a half years after the clearance of hcv . a 41-year - old japanese man was found to be seropositive for anti - hcv antibody ( dainabot , tokyo , japan ) with abnormal liver function tests at a health check - up in 1994 . he had no history of blood transfusion or drug abuse , but had been consuming approximately 25 g / day of alcohol for 20 years . serum hepatitis b surface antigen ( hbsag ) and antibody to hbsag ( anti - hbs ) were negative . a liver biopsy specimen was consistent with the feature of chronic hepatitis showing moderate fibrosis and mild necroinflammatory reaction , diagnosed later as f2/a1 according to the classification by desmet et al . . he was diagnosed to have chronic hepatitis c ( ch - c ) and received ifn monotherapy with natural ifn alpha ( human lymphoblastoid ifn ; sumitomo pharmaceutical co. , osaka , japan ) , 6 million units ( mu ) ,...

a 41-year - old japanese man had received successful interferon ( ifn ) therapy against chronic hepatitis c in 1994 . since then , serum hepatitis c virus ( hcv ) rna had been negative , and aminotransferase levels had been continuously normal . he had abstained from alcohol . however , his serum aminotransferase levels showed slight elevation as his body weight increased gradually . he was diagnosed as having fatty liver and diabetes mellitus . in january 2006 , 11 and a half years after the resolution of hcv infection , he was found to have a hepatic nodule 4.0 cm in diameter at liver s4/8 region by plain abdominal ct at an annual follow - up examination . he was diagnosed as having hepatocellular carcinoma ( hcc ) by angiography . the tumor was curatively resected and its histological diagnosis was moderately differentiated hcc . noncancerous lesion of the liver revealed fibrosis of stage f2 and mild inflammation of grade a1 with mild steatosis . this case suggests that all patients with chronic hcv infection should be followed as long as possible for the potential development of hcc even after clearance of the virus .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: over 40% of patients being treated with oral anticoagulation are prescribed a direct oral anticoagulants ( doacs ) according to a recent study assessing prescribing patterns 1 . pivotal trials for the doacs have reported noninferiority or superiority of these agents to warfarin , a vitamin k antagonist ( vka ) , for multiple indications including nonvalvular atrial fibrillation ( af ) and venous thromboembolism ( vte ) 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 . furthermore , several of these studies also demonstrated similar or lower rates of minor and major bleeding and eliminates the need for frequent laboratory monitoring of these doacs in comparison with warfarin . despite these benefits , dabigatran , a direct thrombin inhibitor , is the only doac with an fdaapproved reversal agent idarucizumab currently on the market 6 . currently , other doacs such as rivaroxaban , apixaban , and edoxaban , lacks an fdaapproved reversal agent , although there are currently multiple agents in the pipeline for reversing these newer anticoagulants 7 . as a result , the current mainstay management of factor xa inhibitorinduced bleeding is supportive care with traditional blood products such as packed red blood cells ( prbc ) , as the anticoagulant effects of rivaroxaban can be expected to last 24 h or more 8 . fourfactor prothrombin complex concentrate ( 4fpcc ) , the only pcc formulation currently available in the united states , contains factors ii , vii , ix , and x , proteins c and s , and heparin . this agent is currently only fdaapproved for the management of acute major bleeding or need for urgent surgery or invasive procedures in patients on vka , with dosing recommendations based on international normalized ratio ( inr ) values . the 2012 chest antithrombotic guideline provides a level 2c recommendation for 4fpcc in the management of vkaassociated major bleeds over plasma products 9 , although the guideline supplement is published 1 year after rivaroxaban is initially approved in the united states . we report the following case of a...

key clinical messagewe presented the first case of fourfactor prothrombin complex concentrate ( 4fpcc ) for the alleviation of bleeding for emergent onpump coronary artery bypass graft ( cabg ) with the patient discharged by postoperative day ( pod ) 9 with no sequelae . until direct antidotes are available , 4fpcc may play a role in the management of mitigating rivaroxabaninduced bleeding in surgical procedure .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the neural mechanisms that underlie l - dopa - induced dyskinesias in parkinson s disease ( pd ) remain poorly understood [ 14 ] . dyskinesias have been associated with pulsatile stimulation of dopamine receptors , downstream changes in genes and proteins , and changes in nondopamine transmitter systems [ 46 ] . all these changes lead to alterations in the firing patterns within the basal ganglia , causing overactivations of the primary motor cortex and premotor cortical areas [ 7 , 8 ] . activation studies in pd patients ( h2 o positron emission tomography ( pet ) and xe single photon emission computed tomography ( spect ) ) are in line with these results , and indicate that l - dopa - induced dyskinesias are associated with inappropriate overactivity of striatofrontal projections both at rest and during volitional actions [ 2 , 9 ] . comparison of rest with dyskinesias versus rest without dyskinesias showed a relative activation of the motor cortex , the lateral and mesial premotor areas including the supplementary motor area ( sma ) , the dorsal prefrontal cortex , and the basal ganglia . the comparison of dyskinetic versus nondyskinetic states during voluntary movement revealed additional activation of the same brain regions . unfortunately , in the pet study of brooks et al . mentioned above , regional cerebral blood flow ( rcbf ) in pd patients with and without l - dopa induced dyskinesias was not compared to that of healthy subjects , and therefore , it is difficult to speculate whether the relative increases in rcbf observed in patients with dyskinesias were in fact above or still below that of controls in all the reported areas including the dlpfc . repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation ( rtms ) can produce changes in excitability of cortical circuits that outlast the period of stimulation , opening the possibility of intervening directly with the mechanisms of cortical plasticity in the human cortex . rtms is also a suitable tool to...

we studied whether five sessions of 10 hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation ( rtms treatment ) applied over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex ( dlpfc ) or the primary motor cortex ( mc ) in advanced parkinson 's disease ( pd ) patients would have any effect on l - dopa - induced dyskinesias and cortical excitability . we aimed at a randomised , controlled study . single - pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation ( tms ) , paired - pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation , and the unified parkinson 's disease rating scale ( updrs parts iii and iv ) were performed prior to , immediately after , and one week after an appropriate rtms treatment . stimulation of the left dlpfc induced a significant motor cortex depression and a trend towards the improvement of l - dopa - induced dyskinesias .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: the main reasons for the widespread use of thyroid sonography are availability , low cost , limited discomfort to the patient , and absence of ionizing radiation . sonography has many favourable features , such as detection of nonpalpable nodules , estimation of nodule size / goiter volume , and guidance for fine needle biopsy ( fnb ) . high - resolution ultrasound is very sensitive in detection of thyroid nodules , enabling differentiation of solid and liquid lesions . however , with introduction of sonography it became evident that thyroid nodules are very common , with prevalence ranging from 17% to as much as 67% in some cohorts . nodular goiter does not include thyroid cancer , but one of the main aims of the clinical evaluation is to exclude the risk of overlooking thyroid cancer which is much less prevalent than benign nodules . sonographic characteristics such as hypoechogenicity , microcalcifications , and increased nodular flow visualized by doppler are all to some extent predictive of malignancy . microcalcifications visible on ultrasound examination are considered to be a specific feature of thyroid cancer ( 85,895% ) ; however , the sensitivity of this sign is relatively low ( 2959% ) . presence of calcifications doubles the risk of malignancy , whereas microcalcifications increase the risk of thyroid cancer three - fold . however , in pathologic examinations of benign thyroid nodules - inspissated colloid , fibrosis , and microcalcifications often coexist . palpation the earliest and most common form of tissue hardness estimation was practiced by egyptian physicians as early as 2600 bc . a more recent and sophisticated method of imaging of tissue hardness is the technique known as elastography . the term elastography was coined by ophir et al . to refer to an ultrasound - based imaging technique , where local axial strains were estimated by computing the gradient of axial shifts in echo arrival times along the ultrasound beam direction following quasistatic tissue deformation...

although elastography can enhance the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules , its diagnostic performance is not ideal at present . further improvements in the technique and creation of robust diagnostic criteria are necessary . the purpose of this study was to compare the usefulness of strain elastography and a new generation of elasticity imaging called supersonic shear wave elastography ( sswe ) in differential evaluation of thyroid nodules . six thyroid nodules in 4 patients were studied . sswe yielded 1 true - positive and 5 true - negative results . strain elastography yielded 5 false - positive results and 1 false - negative result . a novel finding appreciated with sswe , were punctate foci of increased stiffness corresponding to microcalcifications in 4 nodules , some not visible on b - mode ultrasound , as opposed to soft , colloid - inspissated areas visible on b - mode ultrasound in 2 nodules . this preliminary paper indicates that sswe may outperform strain elastography in differentiation of thyroid nodules with regard to their stiffness . sswe showed the possibility of differentiation of high echogenic foci into microcalcifications and inspissated colloid , adding a new dimension to thyroid elastography . further multicenter large - scale studies of thyroid nodules evaluating different elastographic methods are warranted .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: dental caries is a multifactorial disease caused by interactions between acidogenic bacteria , biofilm and individual caries risk factors ( e.g. , saliva composition , fluoride exposure and dietary components ) . in a global context , its prevalence is still high , particularly in children . because dental caries is preventable , caries risk assessment ( cra ) is an important tool assisting the dentist to better understand the cariogenic profile of a patient . the process includes collecting relevant historical data of the patient , such as the medical and dental history . the complex nature of caries risk has led to the development of different protocols that are not all validated . cariogram , a software program from sweden , stands out as it has been clinically proven to be effective in evaluating caries risk . the outcomes are presented graphically to the patient , indicating the probability of avoiding new carious lesions . cariogram is based on a set of pathological and protective factors - caries experience , systemic diseases , diet contents and frequency , amount of plaque , mutans streptococci , fluoride sources , saliva secretion and buffer capacity - in addition to the professional clinical judgment . as some factors are considered more relevant than others regarding caries development , most information is easily collected at the dental practice , but saliva and bacteria assessment require specific tests which are not frequently performed by a dentist . the use of cariogram is limited to places where a computer system is available and where those tests can be performed . for that reason , alternatives ways of performing cra have been proposed ; it is suggested that the best way of implementing cra in clinical practice would be by the use a form , ensuring that all patients could be assessed systematically in the same manner . the main differences between the cariogram software and the new form include the following : filling in the form does not...

identifying caries risk factors is an important measure which contributes to best understanding of the cariogenic profile of the patient . the cariogram software provides this analysis , and protocols simplifying the method were suggested.objectivesthe aim of this study was to determine whether a newly developed caries risk assessment ( cra ) form based on the cariogram software could classify schoolchildren according to their caries risk and to evaluate relationships between caries risk and the variables in the form.material and methods150 schoolchildren aged 5 to 7 years old were included in this survey . caries prevalence was obtained according to international caries detection and assessment system ( icdas ) ii . information for filling in the form based on cariogram was collected clinically and from questionnaires sent to parents . linear regression and a forward stepwise multiple regression model were applied to correlate the variables included in the form with the caries risk.resultscaries prevalence , in primary dentition , including enamel and dentine carious lesions was 98.6% , and 77.3% when only dentine lesions were considered . eighty - six percent of the children were classified as at moderate caries risk . the forward stepwise multiple regression model result was significant ( r2=0.904 ; p<0.00001 ) , showing that the most significant factors influencing caries risk were caries experience , oral hygiene , frequency of food consumption , sugar consumption and fluoride sources.conclusionthe use of the form based on the cariogram software enabled classification of the schoolchildren at low , moderate and high caries risk . caries experience , oral hygiene , frequency of food consumption , sugar consumption and fluoride sources are the variables that were shown to be highly correlated with caries risk .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: ubb , a loss - of - function variant of ubiquitin b ( ubb ) , accumulates in neurofibrillary tangles , a pathological hallmark in alzheimer s disease ( ad ) ( van leeuwen et al . , 1998 ) . ubb is translated from an aberrant mrna encoding a + 1 frameshift protein in which the c - terminal glycine residue required for ubiquitylation is replaced by an extension of 20 amino acids ( dennissen et al . , 2010 ) . the detrimental impact of ubb has been studied in neuronal cell cultures , transgenic mice , and yeast ( de vrij et al . , 2001 ; ubb is a substrate for truncation , ubiquitylation , and proteasomal degradation ( dennissen et al . , 2011 ; lindsten et al . , 2002 ; whereas the ubiquitin - proteasome system ( ups ) can assure the degradation of low levels of ubb , higher levels impair the ups and subvert the homeostatic mechanisms allowing for its elimination ( fischer et al . , 2009 ; lindsten et al . , 2002 ; at high levels , ubb affects mitochondrial dynamics and triggers neuronal cell death ( de vrij et al . , 2001 ; tan et al . , 2007 ) through as - yet elusive mechanisms . yeast is an established model for studying programmed cell death mechanisms that are often shared with animal cells , including the contribution of caspases and mitochondrion - associated cell death proteins , such as cytochrome c ( carmona - gutierrez et al . , 2010 ) . yeast models have been used to explore cell killing by neurotoxic proteins , such as parkinson - disease - associated -synuclein , and the outcome could be successfully translated to fly , worm , and murine disease models , as well as to human disease ( braun et al . , 2010 ; bttner et al . , 2013 ) . driven by these premises , we established a yeast cell death model for ubb - triggered neurotoxicity . our findings revealed that ubb interfered with the ups and triggered the perturbation of the mitochondrion - associated basic amino acid synthesis executing cell death . the mitochondrion - associated ups subroutine , depending on the aaa - atpase...

summaryneuronal accumulation of ubb+1 , a frameshift variant of ubiquitin b , is a hallmark of alzheimer s disease ( ad ) . how ubb+1 contributes to neuronal dysfunction remains elusive . here , we show that in brain regions of ad patients with neurofibrillary tangles ubb+1 co - exists with vms1 , the mitochondrion - specific component of the ubiquitin - proteasome system ( ups ) . expression of ubb+1 in yeast disturbs the ups , leading to mitochondrial stress and apoptosis . inhibiting ups activity exacerbates while stimulating ups by the transcription activator rpn4 reduces ubb+1-triggered cytotoxicity . high levels of the rpn4 target protein cdc48 and its cofactor vms1 are sufficient to relieve programmed cell death . we identified the ubb+1-induced enhancement of the basic amino acids arginine , ornithine , and lysine at mitochondria as a decisive toxic event , which can be reversed by cdc48/vms1-mediated proteolysis . the fact that ad - induced cellular dysfunctions can be avoided by ups activity at mitochondria has potentially far - reaching pathophysiological implications .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: pseudomonas aeruginosa ( p. aeruginosa ) is an aerobic gram - negative bacterium ; that is ubiquitous , exist in aqueous habitats , and take advantage of humid environments . it is also saprophytic and naturally resistant to antibiotics ( beta - lactams , hydrophilic ) , and may become an opportunistic pathogen responsible for serious infections when favorable circumstances exist . because it is environmentally present in soils , plants ( including fruits and vegetables ) , aqueous habitats and humid environments , it has an ability to acquire resistance to antibiotics , and has multiplicity of virulence factors ( diffusible or constituent ) that baffle the host s defenses and allow the development of infections in susceptible patients , such as malnourished patients ; burn victims , trauma patients , patients suffering from diabetes , cystic fibrosis , cancer , human immunodeficiency virus ( hiv ) , and blood disorders , patients undergoing mechanical ventilation or long - term corticosteroid therapy ; patients in whom carrier surveyed peripheral and central catheters are being used . aeruginosa infections are most often acquired in a hospital , but are sometimes community acquired ; factors limiting p. aeruginosa proliferation on the skin are dryness of the skin s surface and normal flora ( gram + cocci ) . the bacterium p. aeruginosa can grow or become permanent on the skin in case of the traumatic rupture of the skin barrier ; chronic wounds such as leg ulcers , extensive burns , diabetes include ulcers , oozing dermatitis , and wet or macerated lesions the disappearance of gram + cocci normal flora caused by the use of systemic or topical antimicrobials . the first signs of infection of a chronic wound or ulcer are the production of greenish pus and the appearance of a characteristic aromatic odor . these are vesicular or bullous lesions with a content of serum are hemorrhagic based on an erythematous and edematous base and can initially have the clinical appearance of multiform erythema . these lesions...

objectives : the purpose of this study was to obtain a natural antibiotic from phenol - rich compounds ; for the dressing and the treatment of chronic wounds.methods:the phenol - rich compound sweet gel was prepared by blending four natural herbal extracts , acacia catechu ( l.f . ) , momia ( shilajit ) , castanea sativa , and ephedra sinica stapf , with combination of a sweet gel medium , including honey , maple saps , phoenix dactylifera l. ( date ) , pomegranate extract and azadirachta indica gum as a stabilizer . the combinations were screened by using a well - diffusion assay with cloxacillin as a control . pseudomonas spp . was tested with our novel antimicrobial compound . the zones of inhibition in agar culture were measured for each individual component and for the compound , and the results were compared with those of the control group which had been treated with cloxacillin . data were expressed as means standard deviations . quantitative analyses were performed using the paired t-test.results:the antibiotic effect of the phenol - rich compound sweet gel was statistically shown to be more significant than that of cloxacillin against pseudomonas aeruginosa ( p < 0.05).conclusion : our novel approach to fighting the antibiotic resistance of pseudomonas proved to be successful . the phenol - rich compound sweet gel was found to be suitable for use as an alternative medicine and bioactive dressing material , for the treatment of patients with various types of wounds , including burns , venous leg ulcers , ulcers of various etiologies , leg ulcers on the feet of diabetic , unhealed graft sampling sites , abscesses , boils , surgical wounds , necrotic process , post - operative and neonatal wound infection , and should be considered as an alternative to the usual methods of cure .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: oral cancer is considered as an international health disease that affects an individual 's health , psychology , lifestyle , and loads the whole family with its effect . on the other hand , these kinds of diseases load the governments as well with economical overheads including the need for developmental programs and advanced research groups and centers . the total number of cases of oral cancer is around 263,900 and the mortality rate is 40% . but when the disease is detected early , the percentage of recurrence is reduced to 1020% . unfortunately , only 35% of the malignant lesions are detected in the early stages due to the fact that these lesions start at the basal cell layer and can not be seen by the naked eye . potentially malignant oral lesions are those lesions that exhibit a change in shape or color on clinical or histological appearance . these kinds of changes are due to the different types of biopsies , which , in most cases , are surgical in nature and may cause trauma for the patient . so , it is important to have another technique to detect such lesions , especially in their early stages , such as using fluorescent light . risk factors associated with oral cancer : smoking : the risk of oral cancer is about 510 times greater among smokers compared to people who never smoked . this risk further multiplies among smokers who also drink alcohol . on the other hand , several studies relate this habit with the consumption of alcohol , as well as the number of cigarettes smoked and the period of smokingalcohol consumption : many studies showed that more than 7580% of the oral cancer patients drink alcohol continuously . it is thought that the effect of alcohol on the liver , especially liver cirrhosis , might be one of the main reasons for oral cancerhuman papillomavirus ( hpv ) : this virus plays an important role in the epithelial cancer of the tonsils and oropharynx , wherein more than 10% of these cancers have hpv dna integrated in their genomesyphilis : the percentage of cancerous ability of...

aim : the purpose of this study was the early detection of premalignant and malignant oral soft lesions by fluorescent light ( velscope).materials and methods : a total of 748 patients were evaluated through clinical and fluorescent light analysis of the entire oral cavity . any lesion that was detected underwent a surgical excision biopsy as the golden standard for the detection of the lesion 's histology ; then a comparison was made between the results to assure the efficacy of the fluorescent light analysis outcome.results:about 9.4% of the lesions detected were abnormal lesions and 83.09% had loss of fluorescent light effect . based on the use of surgical biopsy , the machine had a sensitivity of 74.1% and a specificity of 96.3% . according to the statistical analysis , the p value was much lower than 0.05 , so we can conclude that at 95% confidence level , there was significant agreement between velscope results and biopsy results . kappa coefficient value was approximately 0.5 , which means that the strength of the agreement was medium.conclusion:velscope can be used as a clinical diagnostic aid in the detection of premalignant and malignant lesions of the oral cavity . in addition , it helps in the detection of the borders in both surgical biopsy and surgical excision .

Assuming you're helping a researcher in a hurry, could you summarize the essence of this research for them? Study: frontal fibrosing alopecia ( ffa ) is increasingly considered as a distinct variant of lichen planopilaris ( lpp ) , with scarring alopecia of frontotemporal hairline and nonscarring alopecia of the eyebrows . ffa and graham little piccardi syndrome ( glps ) can be considered as spectrum of a disease as per the current literature due to the presence of overlapping features . a 49-year - old female presented with hair loss from both center and sides of the scalp for the last 1 year which did not improve following minoxidil therapy . her family history was unremarkable , and she did not suffer from any chronic disease . no history of chronic medication could be elicited . personal and family history of photosensitivity was absent . on examination , we found scarring alopecia with follicular papules and mild scaling over the vertex [ figure 1a and b ] . she had definite recession of frontotemporal hairline with bilaterally symmetrical band - like scarring alopecia of the same region [ figure 2 ] . there were numerous violaceous follicular spinous papules distributed over the abdomen , back , arms , and legs [ figure 3a c ] . ( b ) close - up view recession of frontotemporal hairline with symmetrical band - like scarring alopecia ( a ) violaceous follicular spinous papules over the abdomen . ( c ) violaceous follicular spinous papules over the leg nonscarring alopecia over the axilla routine investigations with complete hemogram , blood sugar , liver function test including hepatitis profile and thyroid screening were within normal limit . there was definite basal cell degeneration with band - like chronic inflammatory infiltrate around perifollicular region . all these features were consistent with lpp [ figure 5a and b ] . ( a ) follicular plugging with band - like chronic inflammatory infiltrate around perifollicular region , occasional loss of hair follicles , and perifollicular fibrosis ( h and e , 10 ) . ( b ) follicular plugging with definite basal cell degeneration with band - like chronic inflammatory...

graham little piccardi syndrome ( glps ) is a rare form of follicular lichen planus and comprises cicatricial alopecia of the scalp , noncicatricial alopecia of the axillae , and/or pubis and spinous follicular papules involving the trunk and extremities . we herein report a classic case of glps in a 49-year - old female . uniqueness of our case is due to its additional features of frontal fibrosing alopecia ( ffa ) . although overlap between glps and ffa has been mentioned in literature , such numbers are scanty . therapeutic response with oral steroid and retinoid is also far better in contrast to what is described in the existing literature .