Background: Pemphigus is a potentially life-threatening auto-immune blistering disease and consequently it is important to monitor disease activity. Objectives: To assess the usefulness of serial antibody titers in the management of pemphigus and to predict disease activity in the clinical follow-up of pemphigus patients. Materials and methods: In this prospective ...

The Janus kinase 2 mutant V617F occurs with high frequency in myeloproliferative neoplasms. Further mutations affecting the Janus kinase family have been discovered mostly in leukaemias and in myeloproliferative neoplasms. Owing to their involvement in neoplasia, inflammatory diseases and in the immune response, Janus kinases are promising targets for kinase ...

ABSTRACT Background: Retinoblastoma is a hereditary cancer of childhood caused by mutations in the RB1 tumor suppressor gene. An early diagnosis is critical for survival and eye preservation, thus identification of RB1 mutations is important for unequivocal diagnosis of hereditary retinoblastoma and risk assessment in relatives. Methods: We studied 144 ...

DPA-713 is the lead compound of a recently reported pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidineacetamide series, targeting the translocator protein (TSPO 18 kDa), and as such, this structure, as well as closely related derivatives, have been already successfully used as positron emission tomography radioligands. On the basis of the pharmacological core of this ligands series, a ...

In this study, the enantioseparation of zopiclone, repaglinide, chlorphenamine maleate, brompheniramine maleate, dioxopromethazine hydrochloride, promethazine hydrochloride, liarozole, carvedilol, homatropine hydrobromide, homatropine methylbromide, venlafaxine, and sibutramine hydrochloride has been investigated using β-CD in combination with a chiral ionic liquid (IL), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium-L-lactate. The influence of the type of IL and its concentration, ...

A method has been developed for the direct conversion of DNA arrays into three dimensional protein arrays on a hydrogel matrix. An agarose gel embedded with bacterial protein synthesis machinery was used as the DNA-programmable expression gel matrix for the in situ translation of genes on a DNA array. Upon ...

Abstract Context: Despite its promising therapeutic activities, clinical use of resveratrol (RSV) is compromised with unfavorable biopharmaceutical properties, namely low water solubility. Objective: This work deals with improving RSV solubility and release rate through its incorporation in innovative mixed lipid phase self-microemulsifying drug delivery systems (SMEDDS). Methods: (Pseudo)ternary diagrams were ...

Preterm infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) often receive either umbilical- or peripheral arterial lines, for frequent blood sampling and monitoring arterial blood pressure. However, arterial lines can lead to severe complications [1] such as tissue ischemia and as a result necrosis of extremities. The consequences of ...

Background  Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is a newly introduced photosensitizer of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for acne, presenting sebum-reducing, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity. Objective  This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of IAA-PDT in the treatment of facial seborrhoeic dermatitis. Method  In this prospective, single-blinded, 6-week trial, 23 patients ...

Objectives. Comparison of figure-of-8 wiring or simple straight-wiring technique assessed by the frequency of early noninfectious sternal dehiscence. Design. Observational register study with 7835 patients having sternal closure with figure-of-8 steel wires was compared with 2122 patients, where the sternotomy was closed by simple interrupted straight wires. The endpoint was ...

BACKGROUND: In this paper, we propose a non-linear calibration method for hand-eye system equipped with a camera undergoing radial distortion as the rigid endoscope. Whereas classic methods propose either a separated estimation of the camera intrinsics and the hand-eye transform or a mixed non-linear estimation of both hand-eye and camera ...

Here we present a mouse model for T-cell targeting of hair follicles, linking the pathogenesis of alopecia to that of depigmentation disorders. Clinically, thymus transplantation has been successfully used to treat T-cell immunodeficiency in congenital athymia, but is associated with autoimmunity. We established a mouse model of thymus transplantation by ...

Increasing algal cover on tropical reefs worldwide may be maintained through feedbacks whereby algae outcompete coral by altering microbial activity. We hypothesized that algae and coral release compositionally distinct exudates that differentially alter bacterioplankton growth and community structure. We collected exudates from the dominant hermatypic coral holobiont Porites spp. and ...

Exciting opportunities in bioelectronics will be facilitated by materials that can bridge the chemical logic of biology and the digital logic of electronics. Here we report the fabrication of a dual functional hydrogel film that can harvest electrons from its chemical environment and store these electrons by switching the film's ...

The properties of natural, y- and yy-pyrimidines are compared using computational (B3LYP, MP2) methods. Ring expansion upon incorporation of benzene or naphthalene into the natural pyrimidines affects the preferred orientation of the base about the glycosidic bond in the corresponding nucleoside to a similar extent. Specifically, although the natural pyrimidines ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Cerebral Palsy (CP) presents changes in posture and movement as a core characteristic, which requires multiprofessional clinical treatments during children's habilitation or rehabilitation. Besides clinical treatment, it is fundamental that professionals use evaluation systems to quantify the difficulties presented to the individual and their families in their daily ...

The relationships between self-efficacy, self-care behavior, anxiety, and depression for Taiwanese individuals with type 2 diabetes were determined in this study. Depression and anxiety are common symptoms that can contribute toward adverse medical outcomes. A descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational design was used. The sample comprised 201 patients with type 2 diabetes ...

ABSTRACT Multiple sclerosis (MS) is known to be influenced by various environmental factors including cigarette smoking. To identify the impact of smoking on conversion from clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) to clinically definite MS (CDMS), 95 consecutive uniformly-treated smoker (n = 31) and non-smoker (n = 64) CIS patients were evaluated ...

We present experimental measurements of specific electrical (or ionic) conductivity of seven binary systems of 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium alkyl sulfate (EMIM-CnS) with water or ethanol. Electrical conductivity was measured at 298.15 K in all range of concentrations, and selected mixtures also at 288.15 K, 308.15 K and 318.15 K. The alkyl ...

Support vector machines (SVM) are machine learning techniques that have been used for segmentation and classification of medical images, including segmentation of white matter hyper-intensities (WMH). Current approaches using SVM for WMH segmentation extract features from the brain and classify these followed by complex post-processing steps to remove false positives. ...

Swine flu (H1N1) reached pandemic proportions in 2009, yet ambivalence was met concerning intentions to be vaccinated. The present investigation determined predictors of perceived H1N1 contraction risk and vaccination intentions among Canadian adults (N = 1,027) responding to an online questionnaire. The relatively low rate of vaccination intent (30.12%, and 34.99% being ...

Accumulating lines of experimental evidence have revealed that hypoxia-inducible factors, HIF-1α and HIF-2α, are key regulators of the adaptation of cancer- and metastasis-initiating cells and their differentiated progenies to oxygen and nutrient deprivation during cancer progression under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Particularly, the sustained stimulation of epidermal growth factor receptor ...

We evaluated the clinical efficacy and safety of the coadministration of a PDE5 inhibitor and an α-adrenergic blocker in patients with both benign prostatic hyperplasia/lower urinary tract symptoms (BPH-LUTS) and ED using mirodenafil 50 mg (Mvixx) once daily (OD) in patients already receiving stable α-blocker therapy. This study was a prospective, ...

Landscapes modified by glacial erosion show a distinct distribution of surface area with elevation (hypsometry). In particular, the height of these regions is influenced by climatic gradients controlling the altitude where glacial and periglacial processes are the most active, and as a result, surface area is focused just below the ...

Recent research has looked to develop innovative, powerful and novel biofunctionalized nanoparticles, controlling and tailoring their properties in a very predictable manner to meet the needs of clinic immunoassays in the biomedical field. This minireview briefly summarizes recent advances covering the last 3 years, exploiting nanoparticle-based electrochemical, optical, mass-sensitive, colorimetric ...

We performed a crossover study in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes to compare olmesartan (40 mg/day) with telmisartan (80 mg/day) in terms of their antihypertensive and metabolic effects. The subjects were 36 patients (20 men and 16 women) with type 2 diabetes who did not achieve a blood pressure ...

One important challenge for regenerative medicine is to produce a clinically relevant number of cells with consistent tissue-forming potential. Isolation and expansion of cells from skeletal tissues results in a heterogeneous population of cells with variable regenerative potential. More consistent tissue formation could be achieved by identification and selection of ...

No one treatment is likely to affect all patients with a disorder in the same way. A treatment highly effective for some may be ineffective or even harmful for others. Statistically significant or not, the effect sizes of many treatments tend to be small. Consequently, emphasis in clinical research is ...

ABSTRACT: Obesity is recognized as a global health crisis. Bariatric surgery offers a treatment that can reduce weight, induce remission of obesity-related diseases, and improve the quality of life. In this article, we outline the different options in bariatric surgery and summarize the recommendations for selecting and assessing potential candidates ...

BACKROUND: With the recent knowledge of the possible involvement of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in the pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and the results of its administration in animal models, we conducted a clinical trial by treating high-risk children, positive in autoantibodies for T1D, with oral calcitriol. METHODS: This prospective trial ...

Considering the absence of data on the appearance of drugs other than alcohol and tobacco in movie scenes, we decided to study the prevalence of portrayal of illicit drug use in a convenience sample of 50 Brazilian Movies. A total of 192 scenes (12h49'03(″)) meeting the inclusion criteria were identified ...

The terminology, classification, diagnosis and treatment of self-inflicted dermatological lesions are subjects of open debate. The present study is the result of various meetings of a task force of dermatologists, psychiatrists and psychologists, all active in the field of psychodermatology, aimed at clarifying the terminology related to these disorders. A ...

Although nutrient enrichment frequently decreases biodiversity, it remains unclear whether such biodiversity losses are readily reversible, or are critical transitions between alternative low- and high-diversity stable states that could be difficult to reverse. Our 30-year grassland experiment shows that plant diversity decreased well below control levels after 10 years of chronic ...

Concerns about the geometric accuracy of MRI in radiation therapy (RT) have been present since its invention. Although modern scanners typically have system levels of geometric accuracy that meet requirements of RT, subject-specific distortion is variable, and methods to in vivo assess and control patient-induced geometric distortion are not yet ...

Many areas of the central nervous system are organized into clusters of cell groups, with component cell groups exhibiting diverse but related functions.One such cluster, the superior olivary complex (SOC), is located in the ventral auditory brainstem in mammals. The SOC is an obligatory contact point for most projection neurons ...

The epithelial signaling protein and transcriptional regulator β-catenin has recently been implicated in hematopoietic dendritic cell (DC) differentiation as well as in DC-mediated tolerance. We here observed that epidermal Langerhans cells (LCs) but not interstitial/dermal DCs express detectable β-catenin. LCs are unique among the DC family members in that LC ...

The assessment of vascular dynamics has been shown to yield both qualitative and quantitative metrics and thus play a pivotal role in the diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases, which may manifest as microcirculatory irregularities. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an established imaging modality which utilises the principle of optical ...

This article considers the relevance of the notion of ontological security - a sense of order, stability, routine and predictability to life - to contemporary conceptualisations of wellbeing. Drawing on in-depth interviews with unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK, it demonstrates how a positive sense of self and ...

This paper explored the relationships between parental alcoholism, sense of belonging, resilience, and depressive symptoms among Koreans in the U.S. Data from 206 Koreans (Mean age = 28.4 years; 59.8% females) living in a Midwestern state were collected in 2009, using a web-based survey, which included Children of Alcoholic Screening Test, ...

A water-soluble deep cavitand recognized alkylammonium salts, including the drug amantadine hydrochloride, in spiked samples of human urine. The signals of the guests are detected by (1)H NMR upfield of 0 ppm and so occur in a spectroscopic window that is outside of the normal region and distinct from the ...

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) is an essential enzyme for maintaining cysteine homeostasis, leukotriene synthesis, metabolism of glutathione-conjugates and catabolism of extracellular glutathione. Over expression of GGT has been implicated in many pathologies, and clinical inhibitors of GGT are under development for use in the treatment of asthma, cancer and other diseases. ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Insecure early attachment experiences have been reported to play an important role in the manifestation in alcoholism. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of attachment styles with anxiety, anxiety coping and dysfunctional personality styles, as well as with the prevalence of personality disorders, and ...

BACKGROUND: New primary melanomas arising in stage IV melanoma patients under BRAF inhibitors have been recently reported. This raises the question of the nature of the earliest cellular events identifiable within pre-existing moles. Objectives: to use RCM to investigate changing moles in patients under Vemurafenib. METHODS: In the first part ...

New ionic liquids with an asymmetric anion, fluorosulfonyl-(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (FTFSI), were prepared and their chemical-physical properties were investigated. The ionic liquids based on N-methyl-N-propylpyrrolidinium, PYR(13), N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium, PYR(14), and N-methoxyethyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium, PYR(12O1), exhibit high electrochemical stability (>5.5 V on platinum) and thermal stability (>250 °C in N(2) and >200 °C in O(2)). Due ...

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), an active constituent of turmeric, is a well-described phytochemical, which has been used since ancient times for the treatment of various diseases. The dysregulation of cell signaling pathways by the gradual alteration of regulatory proteins is the root cause of cancers. Curcumin modulates regulatory proteins through various molecular ...

Summary In genetics, a consanguineous marriage means union between couples who are related as second cousins or closer. The present cross-sectional study was carried out in order to illustrate the prevalence and types of consanguineous marriages in the Shi'a population living in widespread territories in Lebanon including the Bekaa Valley, ...

In this study, we used a large non-human primate model, the baboon, to establish a step-wise protocol to generate CD34+ endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and to demonstrate their reparative effects. Baboon ESCs were sequentially differentiated from embryoid body cultures for 9 days and then were specified ...

In very recent years, polyaniline or its derivatives have been adopted to efficiently immobilize probe DNA via π-π interaction between conjugated interface and DNA bases. In this work, self-doped polyaniline (SPAN)-DNA hybrid was adopted as the platform to construct a DNA biosensor with label-free, reagentless and electrochemical self-signal amplifying features. ...

BACKGROUND: Full-dose prophylaxis is very effective at minimizing joint damage but is costly. Tailored prophylaxis has been proposed as a way of reducing costs while still protecting joints. OBJECTIVE: To report detailed findings in index joints of 56 subjects with severe hemophilia A entered into the Canadian Hemophilia Prophylaxis Study, ...

OBJECTIVE.: We aim to determine the effects of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) on the thresholds of pain and the expression of transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) in rats with neuropathic pain induced by selective ventral root transection (VRT). METHODS.: Neuropathic pain ...