Background: There are few data on the efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon treatment in adolescents with chronic hepatitis B. Aim: We conducted a pilot study in 13 adolescents with chronic hepatitis B treated with peginterferon alfa-2a at 100 µg/m(2) once weekly for 48 weeks. Methods: HBV DNA was assessed ...

Unrepaired DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) cause genetic instability that leads to malignant transformation or cell death. Cells respond to DSBs with the ordered recruitment of signaling and repair proteins to the sites of DNA lesions. Coordinated protein SUMOylation and ubiquitylation have crucial roles in regulating the dynamic assembly of protein ...

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is an effective treatment for morbid obesity. Current average length of hospital stay (LOS) after RYGB is 2-3 days and 30-day readmission rate is 8-13 %. The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of routine gastrostomy tube placement in perioperative outcomes of RYGB ...

Slow gait is ubiquitous among older adults and predicts cognitive decline and progression to dementia. Age-related structural brain changes could be responsible for abnormal gait. The purpose of this study was to determine whether brain lateral ventricle volume, a measure of brain atrophy, was associated with gait velocity among older ...

Methylmercury (MeHg) affects wildlife and human health mainly through marine fish consumption. In marine systems, MeHg is formed from inorganic mercury (HgII) species primarily in sediments then accumulates and biomagnifies in the food web. Most of the fish consumed in the US are from estuarine and marine systems highlighting the ...

Obesity-related diabetes mellitus leads to lipotoxic cardiomyopathy resulting in a form of cardiac dysfunction. Mice with heart-specific overexpression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) α showed a metabolic and cardiomyopathic phenotype similar to the diabetic heart. To define the role of Astragalus Polysaccharides (APS) treatment for PPARα-mediated lipotoxicity in the pathogenesis ...

Polyploids are defined as either autopolyploids or allopolyploids, depending on their mode of origin and/or chromosome pairing behaviour. Autopolyploids have chromosome sets that are the result of the duplication or combination of related genomes (e.g., AAAA), while allopolyploids result from the combination of sets of chromosomes from two or more ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Brain abscess is a potentially fatal disease. This study assesses clinical aspects of brain abscess in a large hospital cohort. METHODS: Retrospective review of adult patients with pyogenic brain abscess at Rigshospitalet University Hospital, Denmark between 1994 and 2009. Prognostic factors associated with Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) (death, ...

Using pooled cross-sectional time-series data for the 50 U.S. states over a 25-year period, this article examines how well four conceptual groups of social correlates-demographic, economic, social, and cultural factors-are associated with the 1976-2000 patterns in overall suicide rates and suicide by firearms and other means. Unlike past research that ...

A dome-shaped superconducting region appears in the phase diagrams of many unconventional superconductors. In doped band insulators, however, reaching optimal superconductivity by the fine-tuning of carriers has seldom been seen. We report the observation of a superconducting dome in the temperature-carrier density phase diagram of MoS(2), an archetypal band insulator. ...

Pectus carinatum or protrusion deformity of chest wall is less frequently occurring anterior chest wall deformity when compared to pectus excavatum. It may be classified as type 1 or chondro-gladiolar and type 2 or chondro-manubrial deformity. Other variations seen are symmetrical and asymmetrical pectus carinatum. Here we present two unique ...

The anatomical and functional characteristics of the left atrial appendage (LAA) and its relationships with anatomical remodeling and ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) have not been clearly established. The purpose of this study was to determine whether functional and morphological features of the LAA independently predict clinical ...

OBJECTIVE: To identify periconceptional maternal dietary patterns associated with crown-rump length (CRL), estimated fetal weight (EFW) and birthweight. DESIGN: Population-based prospective birth cohort study. SETTING: Rotterdam, the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: For this study, 847 pregnant Dutch women were eligible. Women were included between 2001 and 2005. METHODS: Information on nutritional intake ...

PURPOSE: With the recent introduction of PET/MRI, we investigated whether diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can complement PET for predicting local treatment response in Hodgkin lymphoma. METHODS: This retrospective study included 39 patients selected from a hospital database with a histological diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma undergoing whole-body MRI (supplemented by DWI) and ...

PURPOSE: Most methods to increase transdermal drug delivery focus on increasing stratum corneum permeability, without addressing the need to increase permeability of viable epidermis. Here, we assess the hypothesis that viable epidermis offers a significant permeability barrier that becomes rate limiting upon sufficient permeabilization of stratum corneum. METHODS: We tested ...

In this article, a medium-pressure DBD plasma treatment is used to improve the cell-material interaction of a polyhydroxybutyrate/polyhydroxyvalerate (PHB/PHV) film. PHB/PHV is a biodegradable natural polyester, used for different biomedical applications, including sutures, repair devices, and bone marrow scaffolds. The cell adhesion onto PHB/PHV is far less than optimal due ...

Introduction. Internet surveys of psychometric schizotypy can usefully explore the relationship between the schizophrenia spectrum and cognition, but significant participant drop-out can be a difficulty. We aimed to identify the aspects of schizotypal thinking associated with self-reported cognitive difficulties with a view to developing a brief index of schizotypy that is ...

The distinction between positive and negative emotions is fundamental in emotion models. Intriguingly, neurobiological work suggests shared mechanisms across positive and negative emotions. We tested whether similar overlap occurs in real-life facial expressions. During peak intensities of emotion, positive and negative situations were successfully discriminated from isolated bodies but not ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Variations in the major arteries of the upper limb are estimated to be present in up to one fifth of people, and may have significant clinical implications. CASE PRESENTATION: During routine cadaveric dissection of a 69-year-old fresh female cadaver, a superficial brachioulnar artery with an aberrant path was ...

Peptide and protein drugs have become the new generation of therapeutics, yet most of them are only available as injections, and reports on oral local intestinal delivery of peptides and proteins are quite limited. The aim of this work was to develop and evaluate a water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsion system in ...

OBJECTIVE: Antioxidant therapy may be useful in diseases with impaired oxidant-antioxidant balance. This study was designed to examine the effects of thymoquinone (TQ), an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant agent against cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced pulmonary oxidative damage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were categorized into four groups. Group I was control. Group II ...

Mutations in the X-chromosomal L1CAM gene lead to severe neurological deficits. In this study, we analyzed brains of female mice heterozygous for L1 (L1+/-) to gain insights into the brain structure of human females carrying one mutated L1 allele. From postnatal day 7 onward into adulthood, L1+/- female mice show ...

The study examined whether people update remote spatial locations in unfamiliar environments during physical movement. Participants learned a layout of objects from one perspective and carried out perspective-taking trials after physically rotating to a new perspective in either the same room as learning or in an adjacent room. Prior to ...

In vitro pharmacological profiling is increasingly being used earlier in the drug discovery process to identify undesirable off-target activity profiles that could hinder or halt the development of candidate drugs or even lead to market withdrawal if discovered after a drug is approved. Here, for the first time, the rationale, ...

PURPOSE: Loose fragments in osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) of the knee require internal fixation. On the other hand, loose fragments derived from spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee (SONK) are usually removed. However, the difference in healing potential between OCD- and SONK-related loose fragments has not been elucidated. In this study, we ...

The current gap between animal research and clinical development of analgesic drugs presents a challenge for the application of translational PK-PD modeling and simulation. First, animal pain models lack predictive and construct validity to accurately reflect human pain etiologies and, secondly, clinical pain is a multidimensional sensory experience that can't ...

Visually impaired people need skills on daily living, such as cooking, and Ratchasuda College offers independent living training for them. In order to fulfill their needs, a suitable kitchen should be designed with the consideration of their limitations. The objective of this study was to design and evaluate a kitchen ...

Motor imagery can be used to modulate sensorimotor rhythms (SMR) enabling detection of voltage fluctuations on the surface of the scalp using electroencephalographic electrodes. Feedback is essential in learning to modulate SMR for non-muscular communication using a brain-computer interface (BCI). A BCI not reliant upon the visual modality not only ...

BACKGROUND: Highly active antiretroviral therapy for AIDS is known to increase cardiovascular risk, but the effects of potent antiretroviral agents according to gender are unknown. OBJECTIVE: The present study evaluated the impact of HIV infection treatment on aortic stiffness according to gender. METHODS: From university-affiliated hospitals, we recruited 28 AIDS ...

Background: In view of the discrepancies about the luteal estradiol treatment before stimulation protocols having some potential advantages compared with the standard protocols in poor ovarian responders undergoing IVF, a meta-analysis of the published data was performed to compare the efficacy of the luteal estradiol pre-treatment protocols in IVF poor ...

Primary vitreoretinal lymphoma (PVRL) is a rare malignancy that is speculated to arise extraocularly, and preferentially invade and flourish in the ocular and CNS microenvironments. The eye is involved in about 20% of primary central nervous system lymphomas, but the brain is eventually involved in about 80% of PVRL. Most ...

WWOX is a tumor suppressor gene that maps to the common fragile site FRA16D and is involved in carcinogenesis and cancer progression in many different carcinomas. Reduced WWOX expression is associated with more aggressive phenotypes and poor patient outcomes in several cancers. The present study was conducted in order to ...

To determine whether maternal nativity (US-born versus foreign-born) is associated with the first year mortality rates of term births. Stratified and multivariable binomial regression analyses were performed on the 2003-2004 National Center for Health Statistics linked live birth-infant death cohort files. Only term (37-42 weeks) infants with non-Latina White, African-American, and ...

Iron is a limiting nutrient in many parts of the oceans, including the unproductive regions of the Southern Ocean. Although the dominant fraction of the marine iron pool occurs in the form of solid-phase particles, its chemical speciation and mineralogy are challenging to characterize on a regional scale. We describe ...

In a continuing effort to further explore the use of the average local ionization energy [Formula: see text] as a computational tool, we have investigated how well [Formula: see text] computed on molecular surfaces serves as a predictive tool for identifying the sites of the more reactive electrons in several ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Transferrin (TF) plays a critical physiological role in cellular iron delivery via the transferrin receptor (TFR)-mediated endocytosis pathway in nearly all eukaryotic organisms. Human serum TF (hTF) is extensively used as an iron-delivery vehicle in various mammalian cell cultures for production of therapeutic proteins, and is also being ...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of particle surface coating with magnesium stearate on the aerosolization of dry powder inhaler formulations. Micronized salbutamol sulphate as a model drug was dry coated with magnesium stearate using a mechanofusion technique. The coating quality was characterized by X-ray photoelectron ...

We describe a 41-year-old woman who presented with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Emergent percutaneous intervention was performed with aspiration thrombectomy followed by coronary artery stenting. White material was extracted from the aspiration catheter. Reperfusion therapy after stenting was successful. After undergoing a cardiac rehabilitation program, she was discharged from ...

Past research has shown that emotion enhances true memory, but that emotion can either increase or decrease false memory. Two theoretical possibilities-the distinctiveness of emotional stimuli and the conceptual relatedness of emotional content-have been implicated as being responsible for influencing both true and false memory for emotional content. In the ...

The ability to design technological solutions that address sustainability is considered pivotal to the future of the planet and its people. As technology professionals engineers are expected to play an important role in sustaining society. The present article aims at exploring sustainability concepts of newly enrolled engineering students in Denmark. ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Hypertension increases cerebrovascular oxidative stress and inflammation and impairs vasomotor function. These pathological alterations lead to dysregulation of cerebral blood flow and exacerbate atherogenesis, increasing the morbidity of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases and promoting vascular cognitive impairment. We aimed to test the hypothesis that increased production of the ...

The complete mitochondrial genome for Gymnocypris eckloni and Gymnocypris przewalskii ganzihonensis is 16,686 and 16,682 bp in size, respectively. Both of the mitochondrial genomes have identical genomic organization and structure including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and 1 control region as found in other vertebrates, with ...

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) has been shown to stimulate extravillous trophoblast (EVT) cell migration and invasion, and to play a crucial role in placental function, thereby, influencing placental development and fetal growth. Insufficient invasion of EVT cells into the uterine endometrium leads to pregnancy-related complications, including spontaneous abortion, fetal growth ...

PURPOSE: In the treatment of small bone fractures, such as the scaphoid bone, conventional navigation is limited by its dependence on fixed reference arrays. We introduce a new technique based on reference markers in surgical instruments. If visible on a standard fluoroscopic image, static trajectories are overlaid in this image ...

Chronic infections strain the regenerative capacity of antiviral T lymphocyte populations, leading to failure in long-term immunity. The cellular and molecular events controlling this regenerative capacity, however, are unknown. We found that two distinct states of virus-specific CD8(+) T cells exist in chronically infected mice and humans. Differential expression of ...

Block copolymer lithography holds promise as a next-generation technique to achieve the sub-20 nm feature sizes demanded by semiconductor roadmaps. While molecular weight and block immiscibility have traditionally been used to control feature size, this study demonstrates that macromolecular architecture is also a powerful tool for tuning domain spacing. To ...

BACKGROUND: Although tobacco exposure is the predominant risk factor for lung cancer, other environmental agents are established lung carcinogens. Measuring the genotoxic effect of environmental exposures remains equivocal as increases in morbidity and mortality may be attributed to co-exposures such as smoking. METHODS: We evaluated genetic instability and risk of ...

Adult growth hormone (GH) deficiency (AGHD) in Japan is diagnosed based on peak GH concentrations during GH provocative tests such as GHRP-2 stimulation test. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the ability of serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (sIGF-1) and urinary GH (uGH) at the time of awakening to diagnose ...

Abstract Aberrant expression of the B lymphoid marker, CD19, in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has frequently been associated with t(8;21)(q22;q22). However, AML cases lacking t(8;21) may occasionally express CD19. We asked if CD19 expression is restricted to the karyotypically abnormal leukemic cells in primary leukemia samples. We compared, by fluorescence ...

MOTIVATION: Normalization is critical in DNA copy number analysis. We propose a new method to correctly identify two-copy probes from the genome in order to obtain representative references for normalization in SNP arrays. The method is based on a two-state Hidden Markov Model. Unlike most currently available methods in the ...