Purpose:  To evaluate clinical and paraclinical parameters for the indirect diagnosis of tuberculosis-related uveitis (TRU). Methods:  Prospective 2-year study in a tertiary referral centre. Patients with clinically suspected TRU were recruited. Demographical and clinical data were recorded. QuantiFERON(®) -TB Gold (QFT), tuberculosis skin test (TST) and pulmonary X-ray were performed, ...

Meiotic chromosome segregation requires homologous pairing, synapsis and crossover recombination during meiotic prophase. The checkpoint kinase ATR has been proposed to be involved in the quality surveillance of these processes, although the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. In our present study, we generated mice lacking HORMAD2, a protein that localizes ...

Plants encounter environmental stress challenges distinct from those of other eukaryotes because of their relative non-mobility. Therefore, plants may have evolved distinct regulatory aspects of conserved cellular functions. Plants, like other eukaryotes, share aspects of both calcium and calmodulin-based cellular signaling and the autophagic process of cellular renewal. Here, we ...

ABSTRACT Gender may be related with the outcome of patients with acute traumatic brain injury. We explored the effect of gender on the outcome of 7145 patients with acute traumatic brain injury. There was no statistical difference between male and female in the causes of trauma, age, GCS score, CT ...

Connecting the continuum of post-acute care stroke services may be important for easing patients' transition between settings and facilitating recovery and community reintegration. The use of outcome measures is suggested as one means of connecting the continuum. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to describe administrators' and physiotherapists' ...

Aim:  To evaluate the incidence, sex distribution, ethnicity, age at diagnosis, clinical presentation and morbidity of all childhood-onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) cases in Western Australia (WA) between 1990 and 2010, a state where newborn screening for CAH is not in place. Methods:  The total number of all known CAH ...

Lateral hypothalamus (LH) orexin neurons are essential for the expression of a cocaine place preference. However, the afferents that regulate the activity of these orexin neurons during reward behaviors are not completely understood. Using tract tracing combined with Fos staining, we examined LH afferents for Fos induction during cocaine preference ...

During the progression of autoimmune (type 1) diabetes, T cells and macrophages infiltrate the pancreas, disrupt islet function, and destroy insulin-producing beta cells. B-lymphocytes, particularly innate like B-cell populations such as marginal zone B cells and B-1 cells, have been implicated in many autoimmune diseases, and non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Transgender males are at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS caused by the notorious Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), yet little consideration is given by the policy makers, researchers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) towards this sensitive issue in Pakistan. METHODS: In this study, we have investigated the ...

High-pressure synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction experiments were performed on PbVO(3) tetragonal perovskite in a diamond anvil cell under hydrostatic pressures of up to 10.6 GPa at room temperature. The compression behavior of the PbVO(3) tetragonal phase is highly anisotropic, with the c-axis being the soft direction. A reversible tetragonal to cubic ...

Abstract Aim: To compare the analgesic effect of 3 treatments to relieve the pain produced by intramuscular injections (IMI) in term newborns, and to assess sex-linked differences in their response to pain. Material and methods: We studied 62 babies. Each baby received antibiotic IMIs for clinical aims. During each IMI, ...

Hexagonal tris(o-phenylenedioxy)cyclotriphosphazene (TPP) is used as ahost for organizing dipolar molecular rotor guests into regular trigonal arrays. Inclusion of molecular rotors with transversely dipolar rotators into TPP channels is followed by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, diifferential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and dielectric spectroscopy. The more polar of the two rotors ...

A light in the dark: The fermentation products of the polyketide synthase CalE8 (without its cognate thioesterase) were identified and gave some insight into the elusive early steps of calicheamicin biosynthesis. Fermentation in either the light or dark resulted in different proportions of a new octaketide and led to an ...

The spin dynamics and magnetic excitations of the slightly distorted triangular s = 3/2 system α-CaCr (2)O (4) are investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy and electron spin resonance (ESR) to elucidate its peculiar magnetic properties. Two-magnon excitations in circular RL symmetry show a multi-maximum structure with a dominant spectral weight at ...

The field of tissue engineering is rapidly progressing. Much work has gone into developing a tissue engineered urethral graft. Current grafts, when long, can create initial donor site morbidity. In this article, we evaluate the progress made in finding a tissue engineered substitute for the human urethra. Researchers have investigated ...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To describe Jordanian mothers' perceptions of nursing support provided during hospitalisation of their children and identify socio-demographic characteristic of mothers and children associated with mothers' perceptions of nursing support. BACKGROUND: Nursing support is crucial to mothers to ease and relieve pain and stress experience during hospitalisation of ...

In parallel to market-like reforms in Swedish primary care, the gathering and compilation of comparative information about providers, for example through survey tools, has been improved. Such information is increasingly being used to guide individuals' choice of provider and payers' assessments of provider performance, often without critically reflecting about underlying ...

Tell me which you want: Catalytic asymmetric [4+2] cycloadditions of β,γ-unsaturated α-ketophosphonates with allenic esters catalyzed by organocatalysts derived from different cinchona alkaloids have been developed, affording phosphonate-substituted functionalized pyran and dihydropyran derivatives in excellent yields with high enantioselectivities under mild conditions. The choice of product is controlled by the ...

Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mediates the net transfer of cholesteryl esters from atheroprotective high-density lipoproteins to atherogenic low-density lipoproteins or very-low-density lipoproteins. Inhibition of CETP raises high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (good cholesterol) levels and reduces low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (bad cholesterol) levels, making it a promising drug target for the prevention ...

Leading the way: The synthesis of natural products with new biological targets is one of the driving forces for the development of new antibiotics. The synthesis of the two secondary metabolites corallopyronin and myxopyronin have been achieved, which are prominent leads for the inhibition of bacterial RNA polymerase.

A missense mutation I148M in PNPLA3 (patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing 3 protein) is significantly correlated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. To glean insights into mutation's effect on enzymatic activity, we performed molecular dynamics simulation and flexible docking studies. Our data shows that the size of the substrate-access entry site is significantly ...

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of live xPlane imaging visualizing the in-plane view of IVS in the screening of the fetal conotruncal anomalies. Method: One hundred and fifty-two consecutive normal singleton fetuses and forty-eight fetal cardiac defects (27 conotruncal and 21 non-conotruncal cases), were enrolled in this study. The ...

ABSTRACT Berberis vulgaris L. (barberry) is a very well-known herb in traditional medicine. Apart from its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, the antilipogenic effect of barberry on the sebaceous glands in animals may further suggest it could be employed as an anti-acne agent. This study examined the effect of oral aqueous ...

Various biomarkers have been investigated with regard to their ability to predict the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic SCT (HSCT). In this study, we retrospectively reviewed 90 recipients who received HSCT between 2007 and 2011 in our institution, and evaluated the predictive value of the baseline serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels ...

Postsynthetic ligand and metal ion exchange (PSE) processes are shown to readily occur in several 'inert' metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), including zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs). Ligand exchange can occur between solid samples, as was demonstrated under relatively mild conditions with two robust, topologically distinct MOFs, MIL-53(Al) and MIL-68(In) (MIL = Materials ...

Synthesis of three pyrene modified nucleosides was accomplished using the CuAAC reaction. Hereby, pyrene is attached either to the 5'-position of thymidine or to the 2'-position of 2'-deoxyuridine through triazolemethylene linkers, or to the 2'-position of 2'-deoxyuridine through a more rigid triazole linker. The three nucleosides were incorporated into oligonucleotides ...

Objective:Whilst cannabis has been associated with an earlier age at onset in schizophrenia, the impact of amphetamine and/or cocaine plus cannabis consumption on age at onset remains unclear. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that consumption of amphetamine and/or cocaine in addition to cannabis would lead to ...

Overexpression of multiple copies in T-cell lymphoma-1 (MCT-1) oncogene accompanies malignant phenotypic changes in human lymphoma cells. Specific disruption of MCT-1 results in reduced tumorigenesis, suggesting a potential for MCT-1-targeted therapeutic strategy. MCT-1 is known as a cap-binding protein and has a putative RNA-binding motif, the PUA-domain, at its C-terminus. ...

A unique quality improvement (QI) curriculum was implemented within the Division of General Internal Medicine to improve QI knowledge through multidisciplinary, team-based education, which also met the QI requirement for the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) and the Mayo Quality Fellows program. Participants completed up ...

OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to assess short, sintered porous-surfaced (SPS), press-fit implants with mandibular overdentures to restore edentulous patients with severe mandibular resorption. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Implant lengths of 7, 8, 9, and 10 mm were used, all with 2-mm polished collars, making the designed intrabony lengths 5, 6, 7, ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the buccal bone plate remodeling after immediate implantation using the flapless approach with or without bone graft into the gap between the implant and the buccal bone. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eight dogs had the mandibular bicuspids extracted without flaps, and four ...

Graded and modular expressions of Eph-ephrins are known to provide positional information for the formation of topographic maps and patterning in the developing nervous system. Previously we have shown that ephrin-B2 is expressed in a continuous gradient across the tonotopic axis of the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (CNIC), ...

Mice lacking the Dlx1 and Dlx2 homeobox genes (Dlx1/2 mutants) have severe deficits in subpallial differentiation, including over-expression of the Gsx1 and Gsx2 homeobox genes. To investigate whether Gsx over-expression contributes to the Dlx1/2 mutant phenotypes, we made compound loss of function mutants. Eliminating Gsx2 function from the Dlx1/2 mutants ...

Objective. Program planners work with promotoras (the Spanish term for female community health workers) to reduce health disparities among underserved populations. Based on the Role-Outcomes Linkage Evaluation Model for Community Health Workers (ROLES) conceptual model, we explored how program planners conceptualized the promotora role and the approaches and strategies they ...

The energetics of protein-DNA interactions are often modeled using so-called statistical potentials, that is, energy models derived from the atomic structures of protein-DNA complexes.Many statistical protein-DNA potentials based on differing theoretical assumptions have been investigated, but little attention has been paid to the types of data and the parameter estimation ...

Background  In the Netherlands basal cell carcinomas (BCC) are eligible for Mohs microscopic surgery (MMS) if certain criteria are fulfilled. Objective  To study the MMS indication criteria practised at the department of dermatology of the Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam and to identify predictive factors for extensive subclinical tumour spread ...

Make your OLED fluorescent: An aromatic molecule based on a spiro-acridine derivative was designed, and its photoluminescence and electroluminescence were characterized. By combining the donor and acceptor moieties a small energy gap between the lowest singlet and triplet states was achieved. This design leads to an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) ...

The spatio-temporal control of gene expression is fundamental to elucidate cell proliferation and deregulation phenomena in living systems. Novel approaches based on light-sensitive multi-protein complexes have recently been devised, showing promising perspectives for the noninvasive and reversible modulation of the DNA-transcriptional activity in vivo. This has lately been demonstrated in ...

OBJECTIVE: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is a common condition associated with increased cardiovascular risk. A standard treatment is yet to be established, as there is no consensus on the TSH cut-off values which should be used as indicators. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess cardiovascular risk in patients ...

Streptomyces sahachiroi ATCC 33158 produces the potent antitumor antibiotic azinomycin B which is featured with a set of unusual functionalized moieties. However, the genetic analyses of azinomycin B biosynthetic pathway are hampered by the low efficiency of S. sahachiroi genetic manipulation. In the present study, we developed two efficient DNA ...

Going through the channels: Synthetic scaffolds mimicking natural protein functions have been developed that allow water/proton or only water translocation pathways in bilayer membranes. The ion-exclusion behaviors of the synthetic systems are based on hydrophobic or dimensional steric effects, while hydrodynamic effects appear to be less important.

Abstract Objective: Analyses of the effects of place of residence, socio-economic status and ethnicity on perinatal mortality and morbidity in the Netherlands. Methods: Epidemiological analysis of all singleton deliveries ≥ 22 gestational weeks (871 889 live born and 5927 stillborn) from the Dutch National Perinatal Registry 2002-2006. Multiple logistic regression ...

Capturing a coactivator, naturally: The natural products sekikaic acid and lobaric acid, isolated after a high throughput screen of a structurally diverse extract collection, effectively target the dynamic binding interfaces of the GACKIX domain of the coactivator CBP/p300. These molecules are the most effective inhibitors of the GACKIX domain yet ...

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the hypothesis that the antihypertensive action of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibition is mediated by an increased availability in intrarenal epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) with consequent improvement of renal haemodynamic autoregulatory efficiency and of the pressure-natriuresis relationship. Ren-2 transgenic rats (TGR), a model of ...

Fluorescent gold nanodots (GNDs) are an important kind of nanoprobes. Herein, the application of galvanic replacement for the preparation of fluorescent GNDs is reported. Using presynthesized and size-controlled Ag nanodots (Ag NDs) as templates, the as-prepared GNDs have strong fluorescence (quantum yields ∼10%) with high stability and surface bioactivity. The ...

The stepwise synthesis of ionizable p-tert-butylcalix[5]arenes 1a∙H and 1b∙H, featuring a fixed cone cavity endowed with a carboxyl moiety at the narrow rim, is described. Single crystal X-ray analyses have shown that in the solid state 1a∙H and 1b∙H adopt a cone-out conformation with the carboxylic OH group pointing in, ...

Adipocytes represent a major cell type in the mammary tumor microenvironment and are important for tumor growth. Collagen VI (COL6) is highly expressed in adipose tissue, upregulated in the obese state, and enriched in breast cancer lesions and is a stimulator of mammary tumor growth. Here, we have described a ...

The finite field para-ferrimagnetic phase transition in the axial next-nearest-neighbor Ising (ANNNI) model is studied by using the linear perturbation real space renormalization group transformation. The method is examined in systems of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Ising chains coupled by ferromagnetic interactions in the longitudinal field. As one would expect, the ...

Abstract Objective: To measure plasma nitric oxide (NO), asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels and VEGF gene polymorphisms in fetal circulation in severe preeclampsia. Methods: Cord vessels of singleton gestations complicated with severe preeclampsia 36 weeks or more (n=31) and controls were sampled upon delivery for ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a common condition worldwide that has many negative effects on people who were afflicted with it, especially on their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a commonly used method for evaluating EDS in English-speaking countries. This paper reported ...