Deformable registration has been widely used in neuroscience studies for spatial normalization of brain images onto the standard space. Because of possible large anatomical differences across different individual brains, registration performance could be limited when trying to estimate a single directed deformation pathway, i.e., either from template to subject or ...

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to compare the efficacy of prophylactic ramosetron and ondansetron in preventing postoperative vomiting in children who received fentanyl by patient-controlled analgesia after orthopedic surgery. METHODS: Two hundred and eighteen children, 2-15 years old, ASA physical status 1 or 2, scheduled for elective orthopedic surgeries, were randomly ...

Abstract Background. Little is known about clinically important events and advanced care treatment that patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) encounter in the prehospital setting. Objectives. We sought to determine the proportion of community patients with STEMI who experienced a clinically important event or received advanced care treatment prior ...

Apparent competition is an indirect interaction between 2 or more prey species through a shared predator, and it is increasingly recognized as a mechanism of the decline and extinction of many species. Through case studies, we evaluated the effectiveness of 4 management strategies for species affected by apparent competition: predator ...

Prairie pothole lakes (PPLs) are naturally sulfur-enriched wetlands in the glaciated prairie region of North America. High sulfate levels and dynamic hydrogeochemistry in combination render PPLs a unique environment to explore the speciation of sedimentary sulfur (S). The goals of this research were to define and quantify the solid phase ...

Dietary phosphorus consumption has risen steadily in the United States. Oral phosphorus loading alters key regulatory hormones and impairs vascular endothelial function, which may lead to an increase in left ventricular mass (LVM). We investigated the association of dietary phosphorus with LVM in 4494 participants from the Multi-Ethnic Study of ...

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported benefits for human peritoneal mesothelial cell function of a neutral-pH dialysate low in glucose degradation products (GDPs). However, the effects of low-GDP solution on ultrafiltration (UF), transport of solutes, and control of body water remain elusive. We therefore investigated the effect of low-GDP solution on ...

Shigella flexneri is the major human pathogen causing shigellosis. O-antigens of all S. flexneri serotypes (except for serotype 6) share the →2)-α-L-Rhap(III)-(1→2)-α-L-Rhap(II)-(1→3)-α-L-Rhap(I)-(1→3)-β-D-GlcpNAc-(1→ basic O-unit, whereas differences between the serotypes are conferred by phage-encoded glucosylation and/or O-acetylation at various positions. Recently, in serotype X and 4a variants called Xv and 4av, ...

DNA-protein cross-links (DPCs) are formed when cells are exposed to various DNA-damaging agents. Since DPCs are extremely large, steric hindrance conferred by DPCs is likely to affect many aspects of DNA transactions. In DNA replication, DPCs are first encountered by the replicative helicase that moves at the head of the ...

Previous studies indicate that conscious face perception may be related to neural activity in a large time window around 170-800 msec after stimulus presentation, yet in the majority of these studies changes in conscious experience are confounded with changes in physical stimulation. Using multivariate classification on MEG data recorded when ...

Entry of enveloped viruses requires fusion of viral and cellular membranes. Fusion requires the formation of an intermediate stalk structure, in which only the outer leaflets are fused. The stalk structure in turn requires the lipid bilayer of the envelope to bend into negative curvature. This process is inhibited by ...

The development of small-molecule lipid-bilayer anion transporters for potential future use in channel replacement therapy for the treatment of diseases caused by dysregulation of anion transport (such as cystic fibrosis), and in treating cancer by perturbing chemical gradients within cells, thus triggering apoptosis, is an area of intense current interest. ...

Cocaine-induced acute hypertension is mediated largely by increased central sympathetic nerve activity. We hypothesized that dexmedetomidine, a central sympatholytic, reverses cocaine-induced increases in sympathetic nerve activity, mean arterial pressure (MAP), and heart rate (HR) in cocaine-addicted subjects. First, we conducted a dose-finding study in 15 nontreatment-seeking cocaine-addicted subjects and 12 ...

Rationale: Myocardial diastolic stiffness and cardiomyocyte passive force (F(passive)) depend in part on titin isoform composition and phosphorylation. Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II (CaMKII) phosphorylates ion channels, Ca2(2+)-handling proteins and chromatin-modifying enzymes in the heart, but has not been known to target titin. Objective: To elucidate whether CaMKII phosphorylates titin and modulates ...

AIMS: Obesity has been associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), but whether this risk is also prevalent in younger individuals is unknown. We therefore investigated the risk of AF in relation to body mass index (BMI) among young fertile women.METHODS AND RESULTS: By cross-linkage of nationwide registers of ...

Detection of low-abundance drug-resistance mutations (DRMs) of HIV-1 is an evolving approach in clinical practice. Ultra-deep pyrosequencing has shown to be effective in detecting such mutations. Lack of a standardized commercially-based assay limits the wide-use of this method in clinical settings. 454 Life Sciences (Roche) is developing an HIV ultra-deep ...

AIMS: To investigate whether there is an association between job stress, lipid profile and dyslipidemia diagnosis. METHODS: This study used a questionnaire to evaluate job stress and lifestyle variables in 91,593 workers undergoing periodic checkups. Serum lipid levels were measured in all cases. RESULTS: The prevalence of job stress was ...

BACKGROUND: One of the aims of the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) is to aid communication between the physician and patient about the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on the patient's life. AIMS: To investigate the impact of the CAT on the quality of primary care consultations in COPD ...

Orphan receptor Nurr1 participates in the acquisition and maintenance of the dopaminergic cell phenotype, modulation of inflammation and cytoprotection, but little is known about its regulation. In this study, we report that Nurr1 contains a bipartite nuclear localization signal (NLS) within its DNA binding domain and two leucine-rich nuclear export ...

High-resolution photoemission spectroscopy is used to characterize adlayers of ethane-, hexane- and nonane-dithiol molecules grown on Au(111) surfaces by the immersion method. The effect of using a reducing agent during and after the immersion to inhibit or eliminate S-S bonds is investigated. Our results demonstrate that immersion 24 h in ...

The benefits associated with polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in tissue engineering include high immunotolerance, low toxicity, and biodegradability. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx), a molecule from the PHA family of biopolymers, shares these features. In this study, the applicability of human Embryonic Stem Cells (hESCs), spontaneously differentiated hESCs (SDhESCs) and Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) in ...

Objective(1) To compare the rate of surgical site infections in ear surgery between groups with and without hair removal and (2) to study factors associated with surgical site infections.Study DesignA preliminary, randomized, controlled trial.SettingUniversity hospital.Subjects and MethodsThe study was conducted in a group of 136 patients who underwent surgery for ...

Poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) microfibrous scaffolds produced by electrospinning were treated with mild Ar or Ar-NH3/H2 plasmas to enhance cell attachment, growth, and infiltration. Goniometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were used to evaluate the modification of the scaffold surface chemistry by plasma treatment. AFM and XPS ...

Relapse to maladaptive eating habits during dieting is often provoked by stress. Recently, we identified a role of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons in stress-induced reinstatement of palatable food seeking in male rats. It is unknown whether endogenous neural activity in dorsal mPFC drives stress-induced reinstatement in female rats. ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) initiates infection via recognition of one of at least four cell-surface integrin molecules alphavbeta1, alphavbeta3, alphavbeta6, or alphavbeta8 by a highly conserved Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) amino acid sequence motif located in the G-H loop of VP1. Within the animal host, the alphavbeta6 interaction is believed ...

Four major approaches to total knee arthroplasty (TKA) exist: standard parapatellar, subvastus, midvastus, and mini-parapatellar. Research has shown that there may be some benefit to patients when minimally invasive approaches are employed. However, research has not shown whether the minimally invasive approaches are beneficial for restoring patients' gait when compared ...

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are repetitive stretches of nucleotides (A, T, G, C) that are distributed either as single base pair stretches or as a combination of two- to six-nucleotides units that are non-randomly distributed within coding and in non-coding regions of the genome. ChloroMitoSSRDB is a complete ...

PURPOSESeveral guidelines on the treatment of cancer-related fatigue recommend optimizing treatment of accompanying symptoms. However, evidence for this recommendation from randomized clinical trials is lacking. We investigated whether monitoring and protocolized treatment of physical symptoms alleviates fatigue. PATIENTS AND METHODSIn all, 152 fatigued patients with advanced cancer were randomly assigned ...

A new type of thiacalix[4]arene-based chemosensor and containing amino groups as a binding site and 7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD) as a chromophore have been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and by NMR spectroscopic methods. Each receptor acted as a strong colorimetric and fluorometric sensor for silver ions and exhibited ...

Scholars have problematized popular culture and media (re)presentations of obesity/overweight. However, few have considered the ways bariatric surgery, a rapidly growing treatment for morbid obesity, fits within the discussion. In this article, we explore news media (re)presentations of bariatric surgery using an eclectic approach to critical discourse analysis. Our findings ...

Cantilever sensors have been extensively explored as a promising technique for real-time and label-free analyses in biological systems. A major sensing principle utilized by state-of-the-art cantilever sensors is based on analyte-induced surface stress changes, which result in static bending of a cantilever. The sensor performance, however, suffers from the intrinsically ...

Synthesis of asymmetric nanoparticles, such as gold nanorods, with tunable optical properties providing metal structures with improved SERS performance is playing a critical role in expanding the use of SERS to imaging and sensing applications. However, the synthetic methods usually require surfactants or polymers as shape-directing agents. These chemicals normally ...

ABSTRACT: Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of radiotherapy (RT) for early-stage nodal and extranodal marginal zone lymphoma (MZL).Materials and methods: Patients with stage I (n = 22) and stage II (n = 8) MZL, who were treated with RT were reviewed. The primary tumor localisation was in the orbita (n ...

One of the greatest challenges in cancer therapy is to develop methods to deliver chemotherapy agents to tumor cells while reducing systemic toxicity to non-cancerous cells. A promising approach to localizing drug release is to employ drug-loaded nanoparticles with coatings that release the drugs only in the presence of specific ...

Impulse control disorders (ICDs) are potentially serious side effects of dopamine agonist therapy in Parkinson's disease (PD), but prospective data are lacking about their incidence, time course, and risk factors. This work was a 4-year, prospective cohort study of outpatients with PD and no previous ICDs (N = 164). All ...

An assemblage of a Tb(iii) ion and two mononuclear [Zn(II)(L)] complexes as antenna chromophores (H(2)L: Schiff base ligand) afforded a luminescent single-molecule magnet. The f-f emission spectrum had partially resolved fine structure which provides detailed information on the magnetic anisotropy of the (7)F(6) ground multiplet of the Tb(iii) ion.

We previously showed that a multiple antigenic peptide (MAP) vaccine displaying a.a. 304-319 from the 2β2-2β3 loop of protective antigen, was capable of protecting rabbits from an aerosolized spore challenge with Bacillus anthracis Ames strain. Antibodies to this sequence, referred to as the loop neutralizing determinant (LND), are highly potent ...

Rh-mediated carbene (co)polymerisation of diazomethane works best in the presence of Rh(III) catalyst precursors, the use of which leads to a significant increase in polymer yield and molecular weight. Chain termination via β-hydride elimination is severely suppressed for these species, although this process does still occur leading to unsaturated chain ...

The aim of the study was to compare executive processes with pronounced (hot) and less pronounced (cold) emotional salience in medication naïve children and adolescents with ADHD-combined (ADHD-C) and ADHD-inattentive (ADHD-I) subtypes. Thirty-six subjects with ADHD-C, 44 with ADHD-I, and 50 healthy controls between 8 and 17 years were assessed ...

Myocardin (Mycd), a key factor for the smooth muscle cell differentiation, is constitutively located in the nucleus, whereas myocardin-related transcription factors A and B (MRTF-A/B) mostly reside in the cytoplasm and translocate to the nucleus in a Rho-dependent manner. Here, we investigated the nuclear export of Mycd family members. They ...

The mechanisms by which the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) initiates mRNA transcription and RNA replication are poorly understood. A previous study, using an RSV minigenome, suggested that the leader (Le) promoter region at the 3' end of the genome has two initiation sites, one at ...

Two S-containing MOFs, interpenetrating and non-interpenetrating , were synthesized by altering solvent size. The nanoporous reveals high selective adsorption for Cu(2+) ions and has been applied as a chromatographic column for separating transition metal ions for the first time.

BACKGROUND: Within the myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm (MDS/MPN) category of the WHO (2008), only chronic myelomonocytic leukemia was so far evaluated by multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC). METHODS: To investigate the potential of MFC for MDS/MPNs, unclassifiable (MDS/MPNu), and refractory anemia associated with ring sideroblasts and marked thrombocytosis (RARS-T), we studied 91 patients ...

Acquisition of surgical skills through laboratory-based training and simulation is appealing to surgical training programs. The purpose of this study was to provide baseline information on the current use of surgical skills training laboratories in orthopaedic resident education and to determine the interest in expansion of these facilities and training ...

The acquisition of sensory information during behavior shapes the neural representation, central processing, and perception of external stimuli. In mammals, a sniff represents the basic unit of odor sampling, yet how sniffing shapes odor representations remains poorly understood. Perhaps the earliest hypothesis of the role of sniffing in olfaction arises ...

Pyramidal neurons have a highly polarized dendritic morphology, characterized by one long apical dendrite and multiple short basal dendrites. They function as the primary excitatory cells of the mammalian prefrontal cortex and the corticospinal tract. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of polarized dendrite morphology in pyramidal neurons remain ...

Objective A previous multisite, randomized, controlled trial of peer support compared with usual care for prevention of postpartum depression demonstrated a reduction in depression symptoms at 12 weeks postbirth. Our objective was to determine the cost-effectiveness of this intervention.Study Design Prospectively planned economic evaluation alongside the clinical trial to determine the cost ...

Seven new neolignanamides (1-7), including two pairs of cis- and trans-isomers, and a new lignanamide (8) were isolated from the EtOAc-soluble fraction of an EtOH extract of the root bark of Lycium chinense, together with 22 known phenolic compounds (9-30), four of which were obtained from the genus Lycium for ...

The (6'S)-configuration of brevipolides A-J (1-10), isolated from Hyptis brevipes, was established by X-ray diffraction analysis of 9 in conjunction with Mosher's ester analysis of the tetrahydro derivative 11 obtained from both geometric isomers 8 and 9 as well as by chemical correlations. The structure of the new brevipolide J ...

Both type 1 diabetes mellitus and end-stage renal disease are associated with increased fracture risk, likely because of metabolic abnormalities that reduce bone strength. Simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation is a treatment of choice for patients with both disorders, yet the effects of simultaneous pancreas-kidney and kidney transplantation alone on post-transplantation fracture ...