INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Physicians-in-training play a role in guiding patient care, and their contributions may improve adherence to clinical practice guidelines. However, there is scant information in the literature assessing this impact on perioperative decision-making. The purpose of this study was to determine whether involvement of urogynecology fellows results in ...

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: To provide a clinical opinion based on current literature reporting on the effects of peri-operative pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) on postoperative pelvic floor symptoms, recurrent treatment after pelvic organ prolapse (POP) surgery and current clinical practice in the Netherlands. METHODS: The PubMed database was searched, with ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The application of chemical molluscicides is still one of the most effective measures for schistosomiasis control in P. R. China. By applying diverse molluscicide treatment scenarios on different snail densities in the field, we attempted to understand the cost-effectiveness of molluscicide application so as to prescribe an optimal ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Japanese nurses are increasingly required to read published international research in clinical, educational, and research settings. Language barriers are a significant obstacle, and online machine translation (MT) is a tool that can be used to address this issue. We examined the quality of Google Translate(R) (English to Japanese ...

The profiles of 61 Candida tropicalis isolates from 43 patients (28 adults and 15 children) diagnosed with candidemia at two teaching hospitals in São Paulo, Brazil were characterized by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). In the 14 patients who had bloodstream infections, 32 isolates were serially collected from their blood and/or ...

In a dark time, the eye begins to see. - Theodore Roethke The clouds were heavier, the air thicker. The wind picked up. The news that the subways would be shut down at 7 p.m. spread quickly by word of mouth. The streets in our Greenwich Village neighborhood were filled ...

There has been a growing interest in the use of protein conjugated-nanoparticles for applications in biomedical, sensing, and advanced imaging. The objective of this study was to understand the interaction of protein conjugated silver nanoparticles (Ag/BSA NPs) with biological substrate/membranes (collagen layer). The adsorption behavior of synthesized Ag/BSA NPs on ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) was reported to be involved in lipid metabolism through regulating the production of superoxide anion. However, the role of UCP2 in hepatocytes steatosis has not been determined. We hypothesized that UCP2 might regulate hepatic steatosis via suppressing oxidative stress. RESULTS: We tested this hypothesis ...

PURPOSE: To determine the diagnostic efficacy of (11)C-choline PET/CT in patients with prostate cancer (PC) after radical prostatectomy who presented with increasing PSA levels during follow-up in spite of being on hormone treatment (HT), and therefore showing HT resistance. METHODS: We evaluated a large series of 157 consecutive PC patients ...

Workers involved in interventional cardiology procedures receive high eye lens dose if protection is not used. Currently, there is no suitable method for routine use for the measurement of eye dose. Since most angiography machines are equipped with suitable patient dosemeters, deriving factors linking staff eye doses to the patient ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: A population-based breast cancer screening programme was implemented in the Central Denmark Region in 2008--09. The objective of this registry-based study was to examine the association between socio-demographic characteristics and screening participation and to examine whether the group of non-participants can be regarded as a homogeneous group of ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Launaea procumbens is used in the treatment of oxidative stress and mental disorders. The effects of Launaea procumbens methanolic extracts (LPMEs), i.e., 100 and 200 LPME mg/kg body weight (b.w.), on cognitive performance as well as on the activity of acetylcholinesterase, and antioxidant enzymes in rat brain tissue ...

BACKGROUND: Interim 18F-FDG PET helps predict outcome and tailor treatment in adults with Hodgkin disease (HD). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess predictive values of interim 18F-FDG PET/CT in children with HD and to define the potential added value to interim PET of low-dose CT. MATERIALS AND ...

Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) infection induces clinical symptoms in the upper respiratory tract, inhibits immune responses, and can lead to life-threatening secondary bacterial infections. Following acute infection, BHV-1 establishes latency in sensory neurons within trigeminal ganglia, but stress can induce reactivation from latency. The latency-related (LR) RNA is the only ...

Chloracne is commonly observed in humans exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), yet the mechanism of toxicity is not well understood. Using normal human epidermal keratinocytes, we investigated the mechanism of TCDD-mediated enhancement of epidermal differentiation by integrating functional genomic, metabolomic and biochemical analyses. TCDD increased the expression of 40% of the ...

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) involves seizures that typically originate in the hippocampus. There is evidence that seizures involve anatomically and functionally connected brain networks within and beyond the temporal lobe. Many studies have explored the effect of TLE on gray matter and resting state functional connectivity in the brain. However, ...

Sorcin localizes in cellular membranes and has been demonstrated to modulate cytosolic calcium handling in cardiac myocytes. Sorcin also localizes in mitochondria; however, the effect of sorcin on mitochondrial calcium handling is unknown. Using mitochondrial pericam, we measured mitochondrial calcium concentration and fluxes in intact neonatal cardiac myocytes over-expressing sorcin. ...

Background: High plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) levels have been associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis. To our knowledge, no previous follow-up study has investigated the association between DHEAS and the development of atrial fibrillation. Our objective was to investigate the association between DHEAS levels and incident ...

In heart failure (HF), the cardiac hormone natriuretic peptides (NPs) atrial (ANP), B-type (BNP), and C-type (CNP) play a key role to protect cardiac remodeling. The proprotein convertases corin and furin process their respective pro-NPs into active NPs. Here we define in a canine model of HF furin and corin ...

In a growing number of countries tobacco companies are severely restricted in how they can legally market their products. In these 'dark' markets the role of packaging as a promotional and communications tool becomes more pronounced. How packaging is used for the most expensive cigarette brands in dark markets has ...

Consumption of caffeinated beverages such as coffee and tea has been associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Paradoxically, short-term metabolic studies have shown that caffeine impairs postprandial glycemic control. The objective was to prospectively examine the association of caffeinated compared with caffeine-free beverages, including coffee, tea, ...

The presence of Campylobacter (-like) species in stools from patients suspected of infectious gastroenteritis (n=493) was investigated using real-time PCR for detection of Arcobacter butzleri (hsp60 gene), Campylobacter coli (ceuE gene), Campylobacter jejuni (mapA), five acknowledged pathogenic Campylobacter spp. (C16S_Lund assay) and Campylobacter genus (C16S_LvI assay).In total, 71.4% of the ...

Around 9 p.m. on October 29, 2012, the bright lights at Manhattan's Beth Israel Medical Center flickered and went out. Dr. Harris Nagler, hospital president, stepped out onto 16th Street to find every building around him in shadow. "I remember feeling a kind of awe," he says, "that despite all ...

Previous studies have shown that the localization of the perceived onset position of a moving target varies with the trial context. When the moving target appeared at predictable positions to the left or right of fixation (constant context), localization judgments of the perceived onset positions were essentially displaced in motion ...

In dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI), an arterial input function (AIF) is usually obtained from a time-concentration curve (TCC) of the cerebral artery. This study was aimed at developing an alternative technique for reconstructing AIF from TCCs of multiple brain regions. AIF was formulated by a multi-exponential function ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Osteoporotic hip fractures represent major cause of disability, loss of quality of life and even mortality among the elderly population. Decisions on drug therapy are based on the assessment of risk factors for fracture, from BMD measurements. The combination of biomechanical models with clinical studies could better estimate ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Mutations in the SLC26A4 gene, which encodes the anion transporter, pendrin, are a major cause of autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL) in some Asian populations. SLC26A4 c.919-2A>G (IVS7-2A>G) is the most common mutation in East Asian deaf populations. To provide a basis for improving the clinical diagnosis ...

PURPOSE: Application of metal stents is complicated by neointimal hyperplasia leading to vessel restenosis and reocclusion. Treatment options in cases presenting with complete occlusion of the stented segment and recurrent critical limb ischemia (CLI) are limited. We present the option of the subintimal/substent technique in dealing with occluded stents. METHODS: ...

Serotonin (5-HT) is a critical neurotransmitter in the control of autonomic functions. 5-HT(3) receptors participate in vagal afferent feedback to decrease food intake and regulate cardiovascular reflexes; however, the phenotype of the solitary tract nucleus (NTS) neurons involved is not known. A(2)/C(2) catecholamine (CA) neurons in the NTS are directly ...

The steroid cholesterol is an essential component of eukaryotic membranes, and it functionally modulates membrane proteins, including G protein-coupled receptors. To reveal insight into how cholesterol modulates G protein-coupled receptors, we have used dynamic single-molecule force spectroscopy to quantify the mechanical strength and flexibility, conformational variability, and kinetic and energetic ...

The mouse thymus supports T-cell development, but also contains non-T-cell lineages such as dendritic cells, macrophages, and granulocytes that are necessary for T-cell repertoire selection and apoptotic thymocyte clearance. Early thymic progenitors (ETPs) are not committed to the T-cell lineage, as demonstrated by both in vitro and in vivo assays. ...

ACCESSIBLE SUMMARY: A group of four mental health nurses were trained to deliver and evaluate psychodynamic interpersonal therapy, an evidence-based model of therapy, in a University research setting. We were able to compare data with a group of cognitive behavioural therapists in the same University setting, enabling us to replicate ...

There are concerns that anthropogenic harvesting may cause phenotypic adaptive changes in exploited wild populations, in particular maturation at a smaller size and younger age. In this paper, we study the evolutionarily stable size at maturation of prey subjected to size-selective harvesting in a simple predator-prey model, taking into account ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The glycoprotein (G) gene sequences of bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) strains derived from mainland China have not been compared with those of the isolates from other countries or areas. Therefore, the G genes of four BEFV isolates obtained from mainland China were amplified and sequenced. A phylogenetic ...

We report ab initio potential energy and dipole moment surfaces that span the regions describing the minima of trans and cis-HOCO and the barrier separating them. We use the new potential in three types of variational calculations of the vibrational eigenstates, for zero total angular momentum. Two use the code ...

Objective: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of both matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and its tissue inhibitor (tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2)) in tunica media of radial artery in uremic patients. Methods: The modified radial arteries from 80 uremic patients during internal arteriovenous fistula surgery were selected and used as ...

Tetrahydrofolate cofactors are required for one carbon transfer reactions involved in the synthesis of purines, amino acids, and thymidine. Inhibition of tetrahydrofolate biosynthesis is a powerful therapeutic strategy in the treatment of several diseases, and the possibility of using antifolates to inhibit enzymes from Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been explored. This ...

The CA3 area serves a key relay on the tri-synaptic loop of the hippocampal formation which supports multiple forms of mnemonic processing, especially spatial learning and memory. To date, morphometric data about human CA3 pyramidal neurons are relatively rare, with little information available for their pre- and postnatal development. Herein, ...

In peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients, the frequent exposure to "unphysiologic" dialysis fluids elicits a chronic state of a low-grade peritoneal inflammation leading to interstitial matrix remodeling and angiogenesis. Proinflammatory cytokines are important regulators involved in this inflammatory process that ultimately leads to dysfunction of the peritoneum as a dialysis membrane. ...

BACKGROUND: Although basic research on neuroimmune interactions suggests that inflammatory processes may play a role in the development of fatigue, population-based evidence on this association is limited. This study examined whether plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), biomarkers of systemic inflammation, predict fatigue onset. Method The Whitehall II study ...

We investigate the expression and localization of the tumor suppressor protein pVHL as well as the oncoprotein Aurora A kinase in kidney cancer. Both Aurora A kinase and pVHL protein status were evaluated using immunohistochemistry. The Aurora A expression is correlated with the Fuhrman grade and the TNM stage, while ...

Soybean (Glycine max) is an important crop around the world. Abiotic stress conditions, such as drought and heat, adversely affect its survival, growth and production. The Dehydration-Responsive Element-Binding protein 2 (DREB2) group includes transcription factors that contribute to drought and heat stress tolerance by activating transcription through the cis-element DRE ...

BACKGROUND: Segmental reversal of the small bowel (SRSB) is proposed in patients with short-bowel syndrome (SBS) as a rehabilitative therapy, but its effects on absorption have not been studied. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine intestinal macronutrient absorption and home parenteral nutrition (HPN) dependence in SBS patients with intestinal failure. DESIGN: ...

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5(CDK5) in complex with its activator, p35 (protein of 35 kDa), is essential for early neurodevelopment in mammals. However, endogenous cleavage of p35 to p25 is associated with neuron death and neurodegenerative disease. Here we show that a peptide (p10') encoding the N-terminal domain of p35 protects against ...

The majority of human tumors express mutant forms of p53 at high levels, promoting gain of oncogenic functions and correlating with disease progression, resistance to therapy and unfavorable prognosis. p53 mutant accumulation in tumors is attributed to the ability to evade degradation by the proteasome, the only currently recognized machinery ...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) as an adjunct modality to mammography for detecting breast cancer. METHODS: Comprehensive searches of MEDLINE (1984 to August 2012) and EMBASE (1994 to August 2012) were performed. A summary receiver operating characteristic curve ...

Native tissues provide cells with complex, three dimensional (3D) environments comprised of hydrated networks of extracellular matrix proteins and sugars. By mimicking the dimensionality of native tissue while deconstructing the effects of environmental parameters, protein-based hydrogels serve as attractive, in vitro platforms to investigate cell-matrix interactions. For cell encapsulation, the ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Case management has been applied in community aged care to meet frail older people's holistic needs and promote cost-effectiveness. This systematic review aims to evaluate the effects of case management in community aged care on client and carer outcomes. METHODS: We searched Web of Science, Scopus, Medline, CINAHL ...

The ACI rat model of 17β-estradiol (E2)-induced mammary cancer has gained wide use in the study of breast cancer etiology, prevention and genetics. Emca8, a QTL that determines susceptibility to E2-induced mammary cancer, was previously mapped to rat chromosome 5 (RNO5) in an intercross between resistant Brown Norway (BN) and ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Aortic enlargement and impaired bioelasticity are of interest in several cardiac and non-cardiac diseases as they can lead to cardiovascular complications. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is increasingly accepted as a noninvasive tool in cardiovascular evaluation. Assessment of aortic anatomy and bioelasticity, namely aortic distensibility and pulse wave velocity ...