The use of nanoparticles in medicine (nanomedicine) has recently become an intensely studied field. Nanoparticles carrying drugs and imaging agents have already reached the clinic, but they are essentially passive delivery vehicles, not what are referred to as "smart" nanoparticles. An important function to add to make nanoparticles smarter is ...

Background  Few authors have been attempting between mast cells and dermal dendrocytes interactions on urticaria. Objective  To describe the extruded mast cell granules and dermal dendrocytes in drug-induced acute urticaria. Methods  Seven patients with drug-induced acute urticaria were enrolled in the study. We token skin biopsies of urticaria lesion and ...

Background:  The goal of interventional management of refractory pediatric complex regional pain syndrome is to facilitate early restoration of function to the affected extremity. These interventions are more complicated in children, as most do not tolerate these procedures without sedation. Case report:  We report the first detailed description of a ...

Objective: Inter-organizational coordination is important for rehabilitation disaster relief. The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Disaster was unprecedented, being geographically widespread and multifaceted. Faced with the crisis, rehabilitation professionals established the 10 Rehabilitation-Related Organizations of Rehabilitation Support Service (10-RRO). The objectives of this paper are to provide descriptive epidemiology ...

The interspinous distraction devices are used to treat variable pathologies ranging from facet syndrome, diskogenic low back pain, degenerative spinal stenosis, diskopathy, spondylolisthesis, and instability. The insertion of a posterior element with an interspinous device (ISD) is commonly judged responsive to a relative kyphosis of a lumbar segment with a ...

Molecules involved in leukocyte trafficking have a central role in the development of inflammatory and immune responses. We performed F(ST) analysis of the selectin cluster, as well as of SELPLG, ICAM1 and VCAM1. Peaks of significantly high population genetic differentiation were restricted to two regions in SELP and one in ...

Paracoccidioidomycosis is a prevalent systemic mycosis in Latin America which requires prolonged treatment with highly toxic antifungals. Baccharis dracunculifolia is a medicinal plant in Brazil that is a candidate in the search for new drugs. Fractions of the hexanic extracts were obtained using chromatographic procedures and assessed using an antifungal ...

Improving immune capacity may increase the profitability of animal production if it enables animals to better cope with infections. Hematological traits play pivotal roles in animal immune capacity and disease resistance. Thus far, few studies have been conducted using a high-density swine SNP chip panel to unravel the genetic mechanism ...

Exhaled nitric oxide (F(E)NO) represents the only exhaled biomarker that has reached clinical practice even in primary care settings, due to the non-invasiveness of its assessment and ease of repeat measurements, even in patients with severe airflow obstruction. While F(E)NO has been suggested as a readily determined biomarker that can ...

A nanocomposite generator (NCG) is fabricated using piezoelectric BaTiO(3) nanoparticles and universal graphitic carbons (carbon nanotubes and reduced graphene oxide). A piezoelectric nanocomposite is produced by the simple process of dispersing nanoparticles and carbon-based nanomaterials in a polydimethylsiloxane matrix and subsequent spin-casting onto a metal-coated plastic substrate. The NCG device ...

Abstract In this study, we investigated genetic mechanisms of neurotransmitters in regulating the formation of adverse effects on locomotion behavior in Al2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) exposed Caenorhabditis elegans. Al(2)O(3)-NPs exposure caused the decrease of locomotion behavior with head thrash and body bend as endpoints. Interestingly, the neurotransmitters of glutamate, serotonin, and ...

We report five cases of interstitial pregnancy, treated between 2004 to 2010, to evaluate surgical and obstetric outcome of laparoscopic cornual resection with a "purse-string" technique. A hemostatic suture was passed at the base of the mass in a purse-string fashion prior to resection, to minimize intraoperative blood loss. Subsequent ...

BACKGROUND: Isolated limb infusion with melphalan (ILI-M) corrected for ideal body weight (IBW) is a well-tolerated treatment for patients with in-transit extremity melanoma with an approximate 29 % complete response (CR) rate. Sorafenib, a multi-kinase inhibitor, has been shown to augment tumor response to chemotherapy in preclinical studies. METHODS: A multi-institutional, ...

Sequential modulation is the finding that the sizes of several selective-attention phenomena-namely, the Simon, flanker, and Stroop effects-are larger following congruent trials than following incongruent trials. In order to rule out relatively uninteresting explanations of sequential modulation that are based on a variety of stimulus- and response-repetition confounds, a four-alternative ...

Early immune responses are important in shaping long-term outcomes of human lung transplants. To examine the role of early immune responses in lung rejection and acceptance, we developed a method to retransplant mouse lungs. Retransplantation into T-cell-deficient hosts showed that for lungs and hearts alloimmune responses occurring within 72 h of ...

Background:  Radial head fractures are the most common type of elbow fracture and are universally classified under the Mason classification system. Mason type III fractures are comminuted and are the most difficult to treat, generally requiring plating if possible, or more commonly arthroplasty or excision, which gives a variable outcome. ...

The Diels-Alderase ribozyme is an in vitro-evolved ribonucleic acid enzyme that catalyzes a [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction between an anthracene diene and a maleimide dienophile. The ribozyme can in principle be used to selectively synthesize only one product enantiomer, depending on which of the two entrances to the catalytic ...

A new understanding and a promising solution for the stability of organic transistors and circuits are presented. The electrodes are demonstrated to play an unexpectedly important role on the device stability. Au electrodes exert a detrimental effect on the device stability, while the overall device stability of p-/n-type transistors and ...

The tyrosine kinase c-Abl localizes to the mitochondria under cell stress conditions and promotes apoptosis. However, c-Abl has not been directly targeted to the mitochondria. Fusing c-Abl to a mitochondrial translocation signal (MTS) that is activated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) will selectively target the mitochondria of cancer cells exhibiting ...

CD34(+) enrichment from cord blood units (CBU) is used increasingly in clinical applications involving ex vivo expansion. The CliniMACS instrument from Miltenyi Biotec is a current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) immunomagnetic selection system primarily designed for processing larger numbers of cells: a standard tubing set (TS) can process a maximum ...

OBJECTIVE: Thoracoscopic dissection of the esophagus and laparoscopic dissection of the stomach with cervical esophagogastric anastomosis is a safe method for resection of esophageal and gastroesophageal junction malignancy. SETTING: The setting was at University Tertiary Care Center. PATIENTS: Subjects are patients with esophageal or gastroesophageal junction malignancy undergoing minimally invasive ...

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of manual needle placement and electrical stimulation guidance, compared using ultrasonography, for injection of botulinum toxin type A into the gastrocnemius muscle of adults with spastic equinus. Design: Prospective clinical study. Subjects: A total of 81 adults with stroke who were scheduled to receive botulinum ...

Whole body vibration (WBV) is one of the most vexing problems in industries. There is a debate about the effect of WBV exposure on hearing system as vibration-induced hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to investigate outer hair cells' (OHCs') hearing response hearing response to distortion product otoacoustic ...

Translational bioinformatics represents the union of translational medicine and bioinformatics. Translational medicine moves basic biological discoveries from the research bench into the patient-care setting and uses clinical observations to inform basic biology. It focuses on patient care, including the creation of new diagnostics, prognostics, prevention strategies, and therapies based on ...

As embryonic progenitors for the gametes, primordial germ cells (PGCs) proliferate and develop under strict regulation of numerous intrinsic and external factors. As the most active natural metabolite of vitamin A, all-trans retinoic acid (RA) performs pivotal roles in regulating development of various cells. In this study, the proliferating effect ...

Symmetry is an extremely useful and powerful tool in computational chemistry, both for predicting the properties of molecules and for simplifying calculations. Although methods for determining the point groups of perfectly symmetric molecules are well-known, finding the closest point group for a "nearly" symmetric molecule is far less studied, although ...

Objective: To investigate the occurrence of semantic, phonological and syntactic deficits in acute aphasia with the ScreeLing after the establishment of its psychometric properties. To examine the relationship between these deficits and: (i) overall aphasia severity; and (ii) quality of Spontaneous Speech. Methods: The reliability and validity of the ScreeLing ...

The interaction between the tyrosine kinases Src and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a key step in signaling processes from focal adhesions. The phosphorylated tyrosine residue 397 in FAK is able to bind the Src SH2 domain. To establish the extent of the FAK binding motif, the binding affinity of ...

Anisotropic Au@SiO(2) core-shell nanostructures have been fabricated from CTABr-stabilized Au nanoparticles with a facile synthesis involving a single growth solution. This procedure circumvents tedious surface modification steps and allows for the SiO(2) shell thickness to be tuned from 5 to 20 nm by modulating the nanoparticle number density and concentration ...

Improved disaster response has led to higher survival rates and an increasing number of injuries in relation to deaths (injury to death ratio). Recent earthquakes, in particular, have led to unprecedented numbers of spinal cord injuries. Meeting the needs of individuals with spinal cord injuries is particularly challenging when disaster ...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs which regulate many genes post-transcriptionally. In various contexts of medical science, miRNAs gained increasing attention over the last few years. Analyzing the functions, interactions and cellular effects of miRNAs is a very complex and challenging task. Many miRNA databases with diverse data contents have ...

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death. Prevention of this neoplasm should be achievable by screening programs in asymptomatic patients. The objective of the present paper is to assess colonoscopic findings in asymptomatic people submitted to screening. METHODS: A prospective study was undertaken on 153 consecutive ...

Objective: This systematic review provides an overview of the effectiveness of conceptual approaches and additional therapies used in lower limb physical therapy of children with cerebral palsy and supports the development of clinical guidelines. Data sources and study selection: A literature search in 5 electronic databases was performed, extracting literature ...

A portable apparatus for the separation of krypton from environmental air samples was tested. The apparatus is based on the cryogenic trapping of gases at liquid nitrogen temperature followed by controlled releases at higher temperatures. The setup consists of a liquid nitrogen trap for the removal of H(2)O and CO(2), ...

BACKGROUND: First-degree relatives (FDRs) of early-onset gastric carcinoma (EOGC) patients are at increased risk of cancer development. OLGA/OLGIM (Operative Link on Gastritis/Intestinal Metaplasia Assessment) classifications have been proposed for the identification of individuals at high risk of gastric cancer development. AIM: To estimate the prevalence and severity of premalignant conditions ...

The architecture of the muscle fascicles, here meaning their lengths and their arrangement relative to one another, has important implications for the force a muscle can produce. Therefore, quantifying this architectural arrangement and understanding the implications of the architecture are important for understanding muscle function in vivo. There were two ...

The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of natural Fasciola infections in both the definitive hosts (cattle) and the intermediate hosts (Lymnaea snails) in central Vietnam. A total of 1,075 fecal samples, randomly collected from cattle in Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, and Phu Yen provinces, were examined ...

Dermal exposure has been recognized as an important contributor to the total internal dose to disinfection-by-products (DBPs) in water. However, the effect of the use of surfactants, water temperature and area of the body exposed to DBPs on their dermal flux has not been characterized and was the focus of ...

PURPOSE: Addictive behaviours are often associated with hidden characteristics that are difficult to detect by usual approaches. This study aimed to estimate the incidence of serious drug-related complications by using the capture-recapture method in defined geographical area. METHODS: Hospitalizations with mention of disorders related to drug of abuse were considered ...

Folate receptor (FR) is overexpressed in a variety of human cancers. Gene delivery vectors conjugated with folate as a ligand could possibly deliver gene materials into target tumor cells via FR-mediated endocytosis. This study addresses novel folate-conjugated ternary copolymers based on polyethylenimine-graft-polycaprolactone-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEI-g-PCL-b-PEG-Fol) as targeted gene delivery system using ...

Controlled alignment and mechanically robust bonding between nanowires (NWs) and electrodes are essential requirements for reliable operation of functional NW-based electronic devices. In this work, we developed a novel process for the alignment and bonding between NWs and metal electrodes by using thermo-compressive transfer printing. In this process, bottom-up synthesized ...

Background:  The Wellington Regional Plastic, Maxillofacial & Burns Unit based at Hutt Hospital provides comprehensive reconstructive services to central New Zealand with a population of 1.1 million. Free tissue transfer procedures in the Unit were audited to determine the indications and rate of usage in our population, our success and ...

OBJECTIVE: This report describes the first prospective cohort study comparing transvaginal cholecystectomies (TVC) with single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomies (SILC) and four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomies (4PLC). METHODS: Between May 2009 and August 2010, 14 patients underwent a TVC. These patients were compared with patients who underwent SILC (22 patients) or 4PLC (11 ...

Background aims. The rising use of allogeneic transplantation in older recipients necessitates considering older related donors. The effect of related donor age for peripheral blood stem cell allografts (PBSC) on graft maintenance and outcomes, independent of CD34(+)cell dose, has not been well-characterized. Methods. HLA-related donors (98% siblings) underwent a uniform ...

Hybrid magnetic drug nanocarriers are prepared via a self-assembly process of poly(methacrylic acid)-graft-poly(ethyleneglycol methacrylate) (p(MAA-g-EGMA)) on growing iron oxide nanocrystallites. The nanocarriers successfully merge together bio-repellent properties, pronounced magnetic response, and high loading capacity for the potent anticancer drug doxorubicin (adriamicin), in a manner not observed before in such hybrid ...

Several lines of evidence indicate that the entorhinal cortex has memory functions, but such functions have not been previously found in grid cells, a cell type that provides major input to the hippocampus. We examined the firing of grid cells as rats crossed (runs) through grid cell vertices. We found ...

PURPOSE: Chronic pain following inguinal hernia repair is a complex problem. Mesh fixation with sutures may be a contributing factor to this pain. The aim of this study was to compare the incidence of chronic pain and limitation of activities of daily living following inguinal hernia repair using a sutured ...

Abstract OBJECTIVE Prospective case-control study assessing the association between maternal periodontitis according to the recently issued USA and European consensus definitions and early preterm delivery (<35 weeks gestation). Cases were women delivering between 22 and 34 (6/7) weeks of gestation (n = 84) and controls were women delivering at term ...

BACKGROUND: Surgery has been associated with proangiogenic plasma protein changes that may promote tumor growth. Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) is expressed by endothelial cells and other tissues in response to hypoxia. Both intact ANGPTL4 and its partly degraded C-terminal fragment may promote tumor angiogenesis. This study had two purposes: to ...

During the past decade, it has been shown that circadian clock genes have more than a simple circadian time-keeping role. Clock genes also modulate motivational processes and have been implicated in the development of psychiatric disorders such as drug addiction. Recent studies indicate that casein-kinase 1ε/δ (CK1ε/δ)--one of the components ...