Glycaemic control is an essential component in diabetes management. There is growing attention on the protective effects of social capital on health, where social capital comprises features of society that facilitate co-operation for mutual benefit. The aim of this study was to investigate its role as a social determinant of ...

Objectives The aim of this study is to present a systematic review of available literature on the effect of maternal ethnicity (Africans/blacks, Asians, Hispanics, others) on the risk of preterm birth (PTB).Study Design Studies investigating ethnicity (or race) as a risk factor for PTB were included if performing adjustments for confounders. A ...

Today, state-of-the-art III-Ns technology has been focused on the growth of c-plane nitrides by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using a conventional two-step growth process. Here we show that the use of graphene as a coating layer allows the one-step growth of heteroepitaxial GaN films on sapphire in a MOCVD ...

BACKGROUND: Dermatologists are expected to be experts in the evaluation and treatment of their patient's cosmetic concerns. It has been reported that some dermatology residents do not feel adequately trained in this field. OBJECTIVE: To assess how dermatology residents are being trained in cosmetic dermatology. METHODS: A survey was e-mailed ...

OBJECTIVESLate outcomes of repair of coarctation with arch hypoplasia have not yet been described. Hypertension and arch reobstruction frequently occur after standard coarctation repair and thus we sought to determine the long-term results of repair in the subset of patients with arch hypoplasia at a single institution over a 20-year ...

Abstract Polyphenol-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are protective against cardiovascular diseases, but the mechanisms of the beneficial effects are still unknown. The goal of this research was to clarify actions of procyanidin trimer (C1) in rat aortic endothelial cells (RAECs). Procyanidin C1 at concentrations up to 50 μM was ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Genetic variants in inflammation-related genes have been associated with biliary stones and biliary tract cancers in previous studies. METHODS: To follow-up on these findings, we examined 35 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in 5 genes related to inflammation (IL8, NFKBIL, RNASEL, TNF, and VEGFA) in 456 participants with incident ...

Post-molar pregnancy gestational trophoblastic tumours (GTT) have been curable with chemotherapy treatment for over 50 years. Because of the rarity of the diagnosis, detailed structured information on prognosis, treatment escalations and outcome is limited. We have reviewed the demographics, prognostic variables, treatment course and clinical outcomes for the post-mole GTT ...

UiO-66 is one of the few known water-stable MOFs that are readily amenable to direct ligand substitution. In this work, UiO-66 has been synthesized with amino-, nitro-, methoxy-, and naphthyl-substituted ligands to impart polar, basic, and hydrophobic characteristics. Pure-component CO2, CH4, N2, and water vapor adsorption isotherms were measured in ...

BACKGROUND: Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is a common genetic disorder leading to premature coronary artery disease (CAD). Despite statins and additional lipid-lowering therapies, many HeFH patients fail to achieve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals. We evaluated mipomersen, an apolipoprotein B synthesis inhibitor, to further lower LDL-C in HeFH patients with ...

Abstract Kinematic analysis of swimming is of interest to improve swimming performances. Although the video recordings of underwater swimmers are commonly used, the available methodologies are rarely precise enough to adequately estimate the three dimensional (3D) joint kinematics. This is mainly due to difficulties in obtaining the required kinematic parameters ...

Background: Acrylamide (ACR) produces cumulative neurotoxicity in exposed humans and laboratory animals through a direct inhibitory effect on presynaptic function. Objectives: This review will delineate how knowledge of chemistry provided an unprecedented understanding of the ACR neurotoxic mechanism. We will show how application of the Hard and Soft, Acids and ...

BACKGROUND: Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 produced in airway epithelia has been suggested as a contributor to the airway remodeling observed in asthma patients. The protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 is a demonstrable modulator of TGF-β1 production and thus a potential regulator of airway remodeling. OBJECTIVES: To define the signal event by ...

OBJECTIVES: Implant surface topography is a key determinant affecting osteoblastic differentiation and cell-cell signaling of implant-adherent cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To assess the early osteoinductive and cell-cell signaling events in adherent cells, commercially pure titanium implants (2.2 × 5 mm) with nanotopography (HF-treated TiO(2) grit-blasted) were compared with micron-scale topography TiO(2) grit-blasted (micron-scale, ...

c-Met, the receptor for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), is cell surface tyrosine kinase that controls cancer cell growth, survival, invasion and metastasis. Post-translational modification, such as glycosylation, plays an essential role in regulating the function of cell surface molecules. Whether glycosylation modification regulates the enzymatic properties of c-Met is unknown. ...

OBJECTIVE: From the ongoing military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, an understanding of the neuroepidemiology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) has emerged as requisite for further advancements in neurocombat casualty care. This study reports population-specific incidence data and investigates TBI identification and grading criteria with emphasis on the role of ...

Human parainfluenza virus type 3 (hPIV-3) is a clinically-significant pathogen and is the causative agent of pneumonia and bronchiolitis in children. In this study the solution dynamics of human parainfluenza type 3 haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) have been investigated. A flexible loop around Asp216 that adopts an open conformation in direct vicinity ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Obesity is a growing health concern in Kuwait. Obesity has been identified as a key risk factor for many chronic diseases including hypertension, dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus. It has been shown that community pharmacists' involvement is associated with successful weight management in developed countries. This study ...

Calcium-dependent exocytosis of synaptic vesicles mediates the release of neurotransmitters. Important proteins in this process have been identified such as the SNAREs, synaptotagmins, complexins, Munc18 and Munc13. Structural and functional studies have yielded a wealth of information about the physiological role of these proteins. However, it has been surprisingly difficult ...

Objective:To estimate the Danish epidemiological long-term incidence rates for suicide attempts in the general population of children and adolescents, and to analyze the impact from single and multiple risk factors on the risk of suicide attempts.Method:We used longitudinal register data from a total cohort of all individuals born between 1983 ...

Poverty and limited availability of health facilities are major barriers to health care in resource-poor countries. For people living with HIV (PLHIV), these factors are compounded by social stigma and decreased mobility, making delivery of public health services a greater challenge. In 2003, the international development organization FHI (formerly known ...

Idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) is a medically unexplained disorder characterised by a wide variety of unspecific symptoms in different organ systems and attributed to nontoxic concentrations of chemicals and other environmental factors that are tolerated by the majority of individuals. Both exposure to chemicals and behavioural conditioning are considered as ...

The sodium salts of amino acids with hydrophobic fluorenyl methyloxy carbonyl (FMOC) group and short alkyl side chains are found, to have surfactant properties. This was ascertained first through visual observation of concentration dependent solution behavior, and then confirmed by tensiometry measurements. The critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) for the sodium ...

The performance of rectangular radiofrequency (RF) coils capable of being used to detect Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR) signals from blister packs of medicines has been compared. The performance of a fixed-pitch RF coil was compared with that from two variable-pitch coils, one based on a design in the literature and ...

Iron superoxide dismutases (FeSODs; FSDs) are primary antioxidant enzymes in Arabidopsis thaliana chloroplasts. The stromal FSD1 conferred the only detectable FeSOD activity, whereas the thylakoid membrane- and nucleoid-co-localized FSD2 and FSD3 double mutant showed arrested chloroplast development. FeSOD requires cofactor Fe for its activity, but its mechanism of activation is ...

Extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factors (σE) are known to bring about changes in gene expression to enable bacteria to adapt to different stresses. The Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 genome harbours 9 genes encoding σE of which 2 are adjacent to the genes encoding ChrR-type zinc binding anti-sigma (ZAS) factors. We describe ...

The molecular processes involved in axonal regeneration following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are still not fully understood. In this study we have established a novel in vitro injury model of TBI based on microcontact printing (µCP) that enables close up investigations of injured neurons. The model is also suitable for ...

  Antioxidant activity (AA) of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) seeds, as well as of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum Desf.) and of emmer (T. turgidum L. ssp. dicoccum Schübler) grains, was evaluated by studying hydrophilic (H), lipophilic (L), free-soluble (FSP) and insoluble-bound (IBP) phenolic extracts using the new ...

Free fatty acids (FFAs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and atherosclerosis. Inflammatory cytokines promote lipolysis and increase FFAs, a cause of endothelial dysfunction and increased atherosclerosis risk. We hypothesized that increased inflammation is associated with increased FFAs, resulting in insulin resistance and atherosclerosis in patients with systemic ...

It is revealed that rigorous control over size and surface of germanium nanoparticles allows the fine color-tuning of efficient fluorescence emission in the visible region. The spectral line-widths of each emission were very narrow (< 500 meV) than ever before. Furthermore, the absolute fluorescence quantum yields of each emission were ...

The density functional version of symmetry-adapted perturbation theory, SAPT(DFT), is a computationally efficient method for calculating intermolecular interaction energies. We evaluate its accuracy by comparison with experimentally determined noble gas interaction potentials and sublimation enthalpies, most of which have not been previously calculated using this method. In order to compare ...

The examination of tissue histology by light microscopy is a fundamental tool for investigating the structure and function of organs under normal and disease states. Many current techniques for tissue sectioning, imaging and analysis are time-consuming, and they present major limitations for 3D tissue reconstruction. The introduction of methods to ...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released or taken up by Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae cultures were analyzed by means of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after adsorption of headspace samples on multibed sorption tubes. Sampling was performed at different time points during cultivation of bacteria to follow the dynamics of ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The phytohormone ethylene is involved in a wide range of developmental processes and in mediating plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Ethylene signalling acts via a linear transduction pathway leading to the activation of Ethylene Response Factor genes (ERF) which represent one of the largest gene families ...

Objective: To evaluate the maternal inflammatory response to microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity (MIAC) in women with preterm labor and preterm prelabor rupture of membranes using selected proteins in the maternal serum. Design: A prospective cohort study. Setting: The evaluation of the maternal inflammatory response in the presence of ...

ABSTRACT: After publication of this work (Mouna et al, 2012), we noted that we had inadvertently included Bodmer Alexandre, Castiglione-Gertsch Monica and Pierre Yves Dietrich as authors of the study. The list of authors has now been corrected and the Authors' contributions and Competing interests section modified accordingly.

The dissolution of α-FePO(4) and the α-Ga(0.75)Fe(0.25)PO(4) solid solution with α-quartz-type structures under hydrothermal conditions in 1 M HNO(3) aqueous solution was investigated by in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the Fe K-edge. The solubility of α-FePO(4) increases with temperature and is higher at 25 MPa than at 50 ...

Life is full of transitions, changes, and adaptations. In this article, we will describe the developmental process and transition steps of a baccalaureate degree program in nuclear medicine technology (NMT). We will introduce a living document that was created by the leadership of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular ...

OBJECTIVES: We present SHARE, a new system for statistical health information release with differential privacy. We present two case studies that evaluate the software on real medical datasets and demonstrate the feasibility and utility of applying the differential privacy framework on biomedical data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SHARE releases statistical information ...

SoxAX enzymes initiate microbial oxidation of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds. Their catalytic mechanism is unknown. Cyanide displaces the CysS(-) ligand to the active site heme following reduction by S(2)O(4)(2-) but not Eu(II). An active site heme ligand becomes labile on exposure to substrate analogs. Elucidation of SoxAX mechanism is necessary ...

The U.S. Congress [PL 107-188] amended the Safe Drinking Water Act and required each community water system serving more than 3,000 people to conduct vulnerability assessments. These assessments address potential circumstances that could compromise the safety and reliability of municipal water. The present evaluation concerns the concentrations of the blended ...

Soft-landing of size-selected Pd(n) (n≤20) nano-clusters on a Moiré-patterned surface of graphene adsorbed on Ru(0001), leads to controlled formation of a truly monodisperse cluster-assembled material. Combined scanning tunneling microscopy and first-principles calculations allow identification of self-selective adsorption sites, characterization of size-dependent cluster isomers, and exploration of interconversion processes between isomeric ...

Several perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) and perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) of varying chain length are bioaccummulative in biota. However, wildlife reports have focused on liver and with very little examination of other tissues, and thus there is a limited understanding of their distribution and potential effects in the mammalian body. In the ...

The design and synthesis of molecular probes competent for pH signaling within or beyond a certain range is a complicated matter. Herein a new mechanism for ''OFF-ON-OFF'' absorbance and fluorescence intensities vs. pH behaviour is described. The probe design is based on the connection of carboxylic acid derivatized benzoxazole and ...

Purpose: To measure the interobserver reproducibility and intraobserver reproducibility of subfoveal choroidal thickness measurements performed by enhanced depth imaging of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) in a population-based setting. Method: The Beijing Eye Study 2011 was a population-based study performed in rural and urban regions of Greater Beijing. The study ...

Introduction.  Epileptic men may experience hormonal changes that may alter semen quality and sexual function. Alterations in male sexual and reproductive parameters may also be due to treatment with antiepileptic drugs to control seizures. Aims.  To evaluate serum hormone concentrations, semen quality, the frequency of sexual intercourse (FSI), and erectile ...

BACKGROUND: /st>Aortocaval compression (ACC) can result in haemodynamic disturbances and uteroplacental hypoperfusion in parturients. Its detection is difficult because in most patients, sympathetic compensation results in no signs or symptoms. However, profound hypotension may develop after sympathectomy during regional anaesthesia. In this prospective observational study, we aimed to detect ACC ...

Type I toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are widespread in bacteria and consist of a toxin-encoding mRNA and a partially overlapping antisense RNA that blocks expression of the toxin, either at the level of translation or by mRNA degradation. Four type I toxin families have so far been proposed in B. subtilis ...

BACKGROUND: Current health policy assumes better quality services lead to better outcomes. AIMS: To investigate the relationship between quality of mental health rehabilitation services in England, local deprivation, service user characteristics and clinical outcomes. METHOD: Standardised tools were used to assess the quality of mental health rehabilitation units and service ...

The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) demonstrated a 20% reduction in lung cancer mortality for screening with low-dose computed tomography versus chest radiography. The major NLST eligibility criteria were age 55-74, a 30 + pack year smoking history and current smoking status or having quit in the last 15 years. ...