BACKGROUND: Intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) is proven to be advantageous in transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) for pituitary adenomas. We evaluated the efficacy of low-field iMRI. Also, we described several techniques to enhance the visibility of the tumor resection margin. METHODS: Two hundred twenty-nine patients who underwent TSS using low-field iMRI ...

Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), a multiple congenital anomaly with severe mental retardation, is caused by decreased activity of 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase. Fifteen Hungarian patients were diagnosed with SLOS on the basis of clinical symptoms, serum cholesterol, 7-dehydrocholesterol, and molecular genetic testing. Their age at the time of diagnosis in mild SLOS (n = 4, ...

Widespread outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) caused by H5N1 viruses occurred in wild birds in Japan from 2010-11. Forty out of sixty-three deceased wild birds belonged to the order Anseriformes, and mandarin duck was one of the dominant species. To estimate the risk of mandarin ducks as a ...

The mechanical characteristics of human red blood cell (RBC) membrane change due to C(60) nanoparticle (NP) infiltration have been investigated in the present work. Using experimental approaches, including optical tweezer (OT) stretching and atomic force microscopy (AFM) indentation, we found that RBCs in the presence of C(60) NPs are softer ...

QUESTION What is the effectiveness of clinical service interventions in patients previously hospitalized for heart failure (HF)? REVIEW SCOPE Included studies had ≥ 6 months of follow-up and compared clinical service interventions with usual care in patients ≥ 18 years of age who had ≥ 1 previous secondary care admission with HF. Clinical ...

The structural feature of unfolding intermediate of pokeweed anti-viral protein (PAP) was characterized using time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic methods to elucidate protein folding/unfolding process. CD and fluorescence spectra consistently demonstrated that the unfolding of PAP completed at 4 M of guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl). The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and time-resolve fluorescence ...

In the human brain, functional activity occurs at multiple spatial scales. Current studies on functional brain networks and their alterations in brain diseases via resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) are generally either at local scale (regionally confined analysis and inter-regional functional connectivity analysis) or at global scale (graph theoretic ...

Abstract Emerging drug resistance has forced the scientific community to revisit the observational data documented in the folklore and come up with novel and effective alternatives. Candidates from eukaryotic origin including herbal products and antimicrobial peptides are finding a strategic place in the therapeutic armamentarium against infectious diseases. These agents ...

OBJECTIVE Understanding the origins of negative cognitive style could provide a means to prevent adult depression. Cognitive style is an important target for intervention because although it is not possible to remove the stress and adversities in people's lives, it may be possible to modify interpretation of such adversities through ...

When the second of two targets (T2) is presented in close temporal proximity (within 200-500 ms) to the first (T1), the accuracy for reporting T2 is reduced relative to when the targets are separated by longer durations; this effect is known as the attentional blink (AB). Two recent studies have shown ...

Prostate cancer-the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men worldwide-can have a substantial effect on quality of life, regardless of the route the cancer takes. The serum PSA assay is the current gold standard option for diagnosing prostate cancer. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that PSA screening for prostate ...

A 60-year-old man with a history of atrial fibrillation had an acute onset of ballistic movements of the left limbs with sensory extinction (video on the Neurology® Web site at www.neurology.org). The patient was treated with risperidone and anticoagulant; symptoms subsided 3 days later. Brain MRI showed acute infarction of ...

The origin of the exceptionally high activity of (B, Ag)-codoped TiO2 catalysts under solar-light irradiation has been investigated by XPS and 11B solid-state NMR spectroscopy in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. XPS experimental results demonstrated that a portion of the dopant Ag (Ag3+) ions were implanted into the ...

The use of multiple-center intramolecular H-bonds for the efficient construction of macrocycles of varying structures and functions is among the newest and the most noteworthy additions to the toolbox for macrocycle synthesis. This strategy has allowed the creation of sizable interior cavities as small as 2.8 Å and as large ...

PURPOSE: Blood-derived proliferative factors such as platelet rich plasma or activated plasma are promising adjuvants for bone grafts. Our earlier studies showed that serum albumin itself can markedly enhance the proliferation of stem cells on bone allograft and postulated that albumin coating alone may improve bone graft integration in vivo. ...

Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are common benign tumors of childhood. IHs often regress satisfactorily without intervention, but a subset of IHs may lead to functional or cosmetic morbidity necessitating therapy. PHACE syndrome is characterized by a variety of neurocutaneous and vascular anomalies that typically include segmental hemangiomas. We present an infant ...

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an independent predictor of cardiovascular (CV) risk. Higher PWV values have been observed in Africans; however, there are no established age- and gender-adjusted reference values for this population. Therefore, PWV was measured using a validated device (Complior SP) in 544 subjects recruited from an occupational ...

Classic galactosemia is a potentially lethal disorder that results from profound deficiency of galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (GALT), the second enzyme in the Leloir pathway of galactose metabolism. Although early diagnosis and rigorous dietary restriction of galactose prevent or resolve the potentially lethal acute symptoms, patients are at markedly increased risk of ...

Alginate (ALA), which is an intercellular polysaccharide associated with brown algae, is used as a food additive, a health food and a medicine. Here, we first examined the adsorption of strontium (Sr) and cesium (Cs) by ALA in vitro, and then evaluated the effects of ALA on absorption and excretion ...

Access to pain relief is a crucial concern for patients with cancer, and remains so at all stages of the illness trajectory. This Review covers the scope of the problem and considers the optimal palliative strategy, mainly through the use of opioids. It also discusses various barriers to effective pain ...

OBJECTIVE Early onset of regular smoking is associated with an elevated risk for later nicotine dependence. Whether or not this association is causal is unknown and has substantial public policy implications. METHOD The authors used a monozygotic co-twin control study design. Pairs were selected from the Virginia Adult Twin Study ...

Escherichia coli-based bioreporters for arsenic detection are typically based on the natural feedback loop that controls ars operon transcription. Feedback loops are known to show a wide range linear response to the detriment of the overall amplification of the incoming signal. While being a favourable feature in controlling arsenic detoxification ...

The metalloproteinase ADAMTS4/aggrecanase-1 is highly expressed in cartilage and has been implicated in human arthritis. Although abundantly expressed in many types of cancer, its role in cancer remains unknown. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time that full-length ADAMTS4 or its catalytically more active N-terminal 53 kDa autocatalytic ...

Exposure to air pollutants has been associated with increased hospital admissions (HAs) for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. This work describes a short-term epidemiological study in Brindisi, a highly industrialized town in Southern Italy. The effects of daily exposure to PM(10) and NO(2) on daily HAs for cardiac, respiratory, and cerebrovascular ...

Gene expression is useful for identifying the molecular signature of a disease and for correlating a pharmacodynamic marker with the dose-dependent cellular responses to exposure of a drug. Gene expression offers utility to guide drug discovery by illustrating engagement of the desired cellular pathways/networks, as well as avoidance of acting ...

Egg protein ovotransferrin-derived peptides (IRW and IQW) can attenuate tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced inflammatory responses and oxidative stress in endothelial cells. The present study investigates the structural requirements and the molecular mechanisms underlying these events. While IRW significantly inhibited TNF-induced up-regulation of intercellular cell adhesion molecule-I (ICAM-1) and vascular cell ...

Introduction: Gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies account for nearly one-fourth of all cancer-related deaths in the United States and approximately 30% of all cancer-related deaths worldwide. Use of combination cytotoxic therapy offers a modest improvement in survival, but the prognosis and long-term survival of most patients with GI cancer remains poor. In ...

The incidence of bladder cancer among women is at least one third to one fourth that observed among men in many countries. Even after accounting for known risk factors, the reason for this gender disparity remains unexplained. We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of reproductive factors and exogenous hormone use with ...

BACKGROUND: The economic costs of maternal obesity and underweight have not been described. We aim to assess the effect of maternal underweight and obesity on hospital utilisation and hospital costs. METHODS: Data from the Queensland Perinatal Data Collection and Queensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection were analysed for 2008. The ...

The spleen is commonly involved in a wide spectrum of hematologic, immunologic, neoplastic, infectious, and vascular systemic disorders. Sometimes overlooked on imaging studies outside the trauma setting, the spleen may harbor severe infections, and occasionally undergoes spontaneous bleeding or rupture. This pictorial essay reviews common and unusual causes of nontraumatic ...

We investigated the feasibility of rapid, nondestructive assay of carotenoid-to-chlorophyll (Car/Chl) ratio and total carotenoids (Car) in cell suspensions of the carotenogenic chlorophyte Haematococcus pluvialis Flotow under stressful conditions. Whole-cell spectra are characterized by variable nonlinear contributions of Car and chlorophylls (Chl), with a strong influence of Car packaging and ...

The purpose of this study was to explore a possible relationship between the availability of metals in soil (Cd, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn) and their concentrations in leaves of Vaccinium myrtillus L. as a species which has been reported to be a successful colonist of acid-and-heavy metal-contaminated soil. Analysis ...

Bilirubin (BR) aggregating at liquid/liquid interface was firstly detected by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) imaging/spectroscopy combining with ultraviolet-visible (UV/Vis) absorption spectra. In the UV/Vis absorption spectra of BR aggregate, a new shoulder appeared at 474 nm, and BR absorption maximum underwent red shift from 450 nm to a longer wavelength at 497 nm, ...

Objective:The aim of this study was to examine changes over 5 years in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) of adolescents from Ho Chi Minh City by age, gender and household economic status.Methods:Anthropometry including height, weight and WC measurements of 759 secondary high school students were collected 1-year ...

The 106th Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds International Titisee Conference, 'Reconstituting Chromatin: From Self-assembly to Self-organization', took place in October 2012. The organizers, Andrea Musacchio and Tom Muir, brought together biologists, chemists and physicists to discuss the principles of chromosome assembly and organization. Topics of discussion ranged from new insights gained from ...

A new 6-benzylaminopurine-functionalized disubstituted polyacetylene (P2) with strong green fluorescence is successfully synthesized by utilizing the postfunctional method. The polymer is soluble in common organic solvents, and its strong green fluorescence can be quenched by copper and cobalt ions with a detection limit down to 1.0 × 10(-8) (0.64 ppb) ...

To review descriptions of paroxysmal dysarthria and ataxia in multiple sclerosis (MS), with special attention given to Parker and his 1946 case series. Evaluation of original publications describing paroxysmal dysarthria and ataxia, bibliographic information, writings, and unpublished letters from the Mayo Clinic Historical Unit. In 1940, Störring described a patient ...

A Val(66)Met single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene impairs activity-dependent BDNF release in cultured hippocampal neurons and predicts impaired memory and exaggerated basal hippocampal activity in healthy humans. Several clinical genetic association studies along with multi-modal evidence for hippocampal dysfunction in schizophrenia indirectly suggest a relationship ...

Increasing evidence indicates the importance of the tumor microenvironment, in particular cancer associated fibroblasts, in cancer development and progression. In this study we developed a novel, visually based method to identify new immunohistochemical signatures of these fibroblasts. The method employed a protein list based on 759 protein products of genes ...

This study measured reading workstation monitors and the viewing environment currently available within BreastScreen New South Wales (BSNSW) centres to determine levels of adherence to national and international guidelines. Thirteen workstations from four BSNSW service centres were assessed using the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 18 Quality ...

Study design:Retrospective review.Objectives:The International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) assesses cutaneous sensibility through light touch (LT) and sharp-dull discrimination, referred to as pin prick (PP). This project aimed to confirm a tendency for LT to score higher than PP in SCI subjects and discuss possible reasons ...

QUESTION Does a stepwise screening program for type 2 diabetes reduce mortality compared with no screening in high-risk persons? METHODS DESIGN Pragmatic, cluster-randomized, controlled trial (ADDITION-Cambridge trial). Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN86769081. ALLOCATION {Concealed}*.† BLINDING Blinded† (outcome assessors and data analysts). FOLLOW-UP PERIOD Median 9.6 years. SETTING 33 general practices in ...

Results of high-energy X-ray diffraction experiments coupled to atomic pair distribution function analysis of disordered low-Z materials are presented. Several scientifically and technologically important classes of disordered low-Z materials such as small and large organic molecules, graphitic powders, polymers and liquids are intentionally explored to certify the technique's performance. Results ...

In 2012, researchers published extensively on the genetic and clinicopathological characterization of patients with the newly discovered C9ORF72 repeat expansions, which cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. Novel ALS-linked genes and genetic modifiers were identified through screening in animal models and patients.

Panic disorder with agoraphobia (PD/AG) is a prevalent mental disorder featuring a substantial complex genetic component. At present, only a few established risk genes exist. Among these, the gene encoding monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) is noteworthy given that genetic variation has been demonstrated to influence gene expression and monoamine levels. ...

Genetic variations in the human mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) mediate individual differences in response to pain and opiate addiction. We studied whether the common A118G (rs1799971) mu-opioid receptor single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was associated with overdose severity in humans. In addition, we examined an SNP responsible for alternative splicing of ...

CEACAM1, a cell adhesion molecule expressed on epithelial cells and activated immune cells, is down-regulated in many cancers and plays a role in inhibition of inflammation in part by inhibition of G-CSF production by myeloid cells. Since macrophages are associated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer, but play important ...

Abstract The objective of the present investigation was to study the applicability of thermal sintering technique for the development of gastric floating tablets of propranolol HCl. Formulations were prepared using four independent variables, namely (i) polymer quantity, (ii) sodium bicarbonate concentration, (iii) sintering temperature and (iv) sintering time. Floating lag ...

A bioengineered heparin, as a replacement for animal-derived heparin, is under development that relies on the fermentative production of heparosan by Escherichia coli K5 and its subsequent chemoenzymatic modification using biosynthetic enzymes. A critical enzyme in this pathway is the mammalian 6-O-sulfotransferase (6-OST-1) which specifically sulfonates the glucosamine residue in ...

Abstract In spite of the increased acceptance of artificial turf in football, few studies have investigated if matches are altered by the type of surface used and no research has compared physiological responses to football activity on artificial and natural surfaces. In the present study, participants performed a football match ...