Reagent pre-storage in a microfluidic chip can enhance operator convenience, simplify the system design, reduce the cost of storage and shipment, and avoid the risk of cross-contamination. Although dry reagents have long been used in lateral flow immunoassays, they have rarely been used for nucleic acid-based point-of-care (POC) assays due ...

Collapsin Response Mediator Protein-5 (CRMP-5) is the latest identified member of the CRMP cytosolic phosphoprotein family, which is crucial for neuronal development and repair. CRMPs exist as homo- and/or hetero-tetramers in vivo and participate in signaling transduction, cytoskeleton rearrangements, and endocytosis. CRMP-5 antagonizes many of the other CRMPs' functions either ...

Abstract Objective. Periodontal disease has been associated with systemic inflammation and may be a risk factor for autoimmune diseases. This study evaluated the association between periodontal disease and the risk of incident psoriasis in a large prospective cohort study. Material and methods. Self-reported history of periodontal bone loss, from 1998-2008, ...

The optimal percutaneous treatment strategy for coronary bifurcation lesions is still unknown. Several dedicated coronary bifurcation stents, such as the Tryton Side Branch Stent (TM) (Tryton Medical, Durham, NC, USA) have been developed to improve clinical outcomes. We present a double bifurcation lesion case treated with two Tryton sidebranch stents, ...

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, severity, location, aetiology, treatment and healing of medical device-related pressure ulcers (PUs) in intensive care patients for up to 7 days. A prospective repeated measures study design was used. Patients in six intensive care units of two major medical centres, one ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The recent introduction of mobile phones into the rural Bandarban district of Bangladesh provided a resource to improve case detection and treatment of patients with malaria. METHODS: During studies to define the epidemiology of malaria in villages in south-eastern Bangladesh, an area with hypoendemic malaria, the project recorded ...

We have studied the adsorption of copper on the clean Re[Formula: see text] surface between 300 and 900 K by means of low- and medium-energy electron diffraction (LEED and MEED) and temperature-programmed thermal desorption (TPD). The persistence of a (1 × 1) LEED pattern during Cu deposition suggests the formation of pseudomorphic Cu ...

BACKGROUND/AIM: The most common method to study the use and attitudes of mouth and face guards is a limited number of preprepared questions. This approach, however, risks information restriction and lowers the general value of the study. The aim of this study was therefore to present a phenomenographic approach to ...

We aimed here to assess the impact of dietary counselling during pregnancy on dietary intake of vitamins and the vitamin status of women and their children. At the first trimester of pregnancy, 89 women from allergic families were randomized to a control group (n = 45) or to receive individual dietary counselling ...

The NfxC-type mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces the MexEF-OprN efflux pump and down-regulates the expression of the quorum-sensing-dependent efflux pump MexAB-OprM and production of virulence factors in the presence of an active transcriptional regulator, MexT. Consequently, the cells are resistant to chloramphenicol and hypersusceptible to ß-lactam antibiotics. An upper negative ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: We performed a Nimblegen intra-platform microarray comparison by assessing two categories of flax target probes (short 25-mers oligonucleotides and long 60-mers oligonucleotides) in identical conditions of target production, design, labelling, hybridization, image analyses, and data filtering. We compared technical parameters of array hybridizations, precision and accuracy as well ...

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are bioactive n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) in fish oil that exert immunosuppressive effects. A significant amount of literature show n-3 LCPUFAssuppress dendritic cell (DC) function in vitro; however, few studies have determined if theeffects are emulatedat the animal level. In ...

A colorimetric probe for the detection of copper(ii) ions in aqueous media by the naked eye has been developed based on a supramolecular complex comprised of a cationic polythiophene derivative and ATP with a detection limit as low as 0.05 mM.

Background: Abnormal behavior and delirium are common in children with influenza. While abnormal behavior and delirium are considered to be associated with influenza encephalopathy, an increased risk of such neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients receiving neuraminidase inhibitor treatment is suspected. Laninamivir octanoate hydrate, recently approved in Japan, is a long-acting neuraminidase ...

The plantaris tendon is often neglected in morphological/clinical studies on the lower extremity. There is, however, clinical evidence that the plantaris tendon is involved in cases with Achilles midportion tendinopathy/tendinosis. It is nevertheless unclear if the plantaris tendon exhibits tendinosis-like features in this situation. We therefore investigated the plantaris tendon ...

This study explored the anti-leukaemic efficacy of novel irreversible inhibitors of the major nuclear export receptor, chromosome region maintenance 1 (CRM1, also termed XPO1). We found that these novel CRM1 antagonists, termed SINE (Selective Inhibitors of Nuclear Export), induced rapid apoptosis at low nanomolar concentrations in a panel of 14 ...

An 85-year-old gentlemen with a history of previous triple vessel coronary bypass grafting presented with severe aortic stenosis and occlusion of the previous saphenous vein grafts but with patent LIMA-LAD. The patient underwent uncomplicated repeat sternotomy and aortic valve replacement with repeated coronary bypass. On post-op day 21 the patient ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: To clarify the implications of cell-free nucleic acids (cfNA) in the plasma in neoplastic disease, it is necessary to determine the kinetics of their release into the circulation. METHODS: To quantify non-tumor and tumor DNA and RNA in the plasma of tumor-bearing rats and to correlate such levels ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Previous studies have evaluated the effects of various health manpower policies but did not include full consideration of the effect of universal health insurance on physician re-distribution. This study examines the effects of implementing National Health Insurance (NHI) on the problem of geographic mal-distribution of health providers in ...

Ultrastructural answer of bone marrow erythroid series and of red blood cells (RBCs) in Wistar rats to bee venom (BV) was analyzed by transmission and scanning electron microscopy, and corroborated with hematological data. A 5-day and a 30-day treatment with daily doses of 700 μg BV/kg and an acute-lethal treatment ...

Diazo transfer adjacent to a sulfoxide moiety to provide stable, isolable α-diazo-β-oxo sulfoxides has been achieved. Use of monocyclic and bicyclic sulfoxide precursors is critical in enabling isolation of stable derivatives, through introduction of conformational constraint, while acyclic α-diazo-β-oxo sulfoxides are too labile to isolate and characterize.

Birnessite nanotubes and activated carbon electrodes have been used in supercapacitor cells to assess the performance of new aqueous based electrolyte systems at temperatures as low as -30 °C. The addition of ethylene glycol to aqueous sodium, lithium, potassium and ammonium sulfates has resulted in electrolytes that are still in ...

The development of a high-quality primary healthcare system requires multidisciplinary perspectives and collaborations between clinicians and non-clinicians. Academic primary care departments across the United Kingdom and Ireland employ academics from a range of disciplines. However, questions remain about the parity of opportunity for career progression with a consistent trend to ...

Connecting multiple testing with binary classification, we derive a false discovery rate-based classification approach for two-class mixture models, where the available data (represented as feature vectors) for each individual comparison take values in Rd for some d≥1 and may exhibit certain forms of autocorrelation. This generalizes previous findings for the ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: With the increasing resistance of malaria parasites to available drugs, there is an urgent demand to develop new anti-malarial drugs. Calpain inhibitor, ALLN, is proposed to inhibit parasite proliferation by suppressing haemoglobin degradation. This provides Plasmodium calpain as a potential target for drug development. Pf-calpain, a cysteine protease ...

The effect of SO42- availability on the microbially-mediated reductive transformation of As(V)-coprecipitated schwertmannite (Fe8O8(OH)3.2(SO4)2.4(AsO4)0.004) was examined in long-term (up to 400 days) incubation experiments. Iron EXAFS spectroscopy showed siderite (FeCO3) and mackinawite (FeS) were the dominant secondary Fe(II) minerals produced via reductive schwertmannite transformation. In addition, ~25% to ~65% of ...

The thermal performance curve is an ecological concept relating the phenotype of organisms and temperature. It requires characterization of the leaf temperature for foliar fungal pathogens. Epidemiologists, however, use air temperature to assess the impacts of temperature on such pathogens. Leaf temperature can differ greatly from air temperature, either in ...

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is currently the most empirically supported intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and includes both specific manualized treatments (e.g., cognitive processing therapy, prolonged exposure) and less standardized applications. As CBT for PTSD has become increasingly popular, more advanced questions have emerged regarding its use, including how existing ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The Expanded Program on Immunization currently considers offering Human Papilomavirus vaccine on a routine basis in Vietnam. However, as the current available vaccine can prevent only two types HPV 16 and 18, before implementing a large-scale vaccine campaign we need information about the prevalence of infection with only ...

Heparin has been the most commonly used anticoagulant drug for nearly a century. The drug heparin is generally categorized into three forms according to its molecular weight (MW), unfractionated (UF, average MW 13,000), low molecular weight (LMW, average MW 5,000), and ultra-low molecular weight heparin (ULMWH, average MW 2,000). Overdose ...

Huntington's disease (HD) is a devastating genetic neurodegenerative disease caused by CAG trinucleotide expansion in the exon-1 region of the huntingtin gene. Currently, no cure is available. It is becoming increasingly apparent that mutant HTT impairs metabolic homeostasis and causes transcriptional dysregulation. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) is a ...

A gold monolayer film and cysteine layer-by-layer self-assemble onto modified glasses, and through the use of optical waveguide spectroscopy (OWGS) and a dynamic SERS technique for the first time to study the dynamic generation process of the Meisenheimer complex between TNT and cysteine. This strategy can detect TNT down to ...

We investigated the source of fungi in the lungs of patients with hematological malignancies who had invasive pulmonary fungal infections (IPFI). We also conducted a prospective study to evaluate the efficacy of different mouthwash solutions in preventing IPFI in patients with hematologic malignancies. In order to determine the source of fungi ...

During subsurface bioremediation of uranium-contaminated sites, indigenous metal and sulfate-reducing bacteria may utilize a variety of electron acceptors, including ferric iron and sulfate that could lead to the formation of various biogenic minerals in-situ. Sulfides, as well as structural and adsorbed Fe(II) associated with biogenic Fe(II)-sulfide phases, can potentially catalyze ...

Abstract Conclusion: In the neonatal chinchilla, the degree of contralateral distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) suppression and the latency and time constants of suppression are immature for 40-60 days. This suggests that olivocochlear efferent innervation of outer hair cells is not fully mature at birth in this animal model, and ...

ABSTRACT: The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation's 13th International Conference on Alzheimer's Drug Discovery was held on 10-11 September 2012 in Jersey City, NJ, USA. This meeting report provides an overview of Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation-funded programs, ranging from novel biomarkers to accelerate clinical development to drug-discovery programs with a focus ...

Candida albicans is a major cause of opportunistic and life-threatening systemic fungal infections, especially in the immunocompromised. The plasma membrane proton pumping ATPase (Pma1p) is an essential enzyme that generates the electrochemical gradient required for cell growth. We expressed C. albicans Pma1p (CaPma1p) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to facilitate screening for ...

Objective: To review the safety of thyroidectomy combined with cervical neck dissection without drainage, in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Materials and methods: Two groups were defined depending on whether cervical neck dissection was or was not performed (groups one and two, respectively). Results: Group one included 153 patients with ...

Pancreatic cancer remains as one of the most deadly cancers with few treatment options at late stages and little information about how it develops through earlier stages. Activating mutation of the Kras gene has been implicated in, but is not sufficient for, tumorigenesis. In mouse models of pancreatic cancer, loss ...

AIM: Liver Cirrhosis is the final stage of chronic liver damage from various etiologies. It is controversial on the reversibility of cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to determine whether cirrhosis was reversible after treatment by hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α), a key transcriptional regulator of hepatocyte differentiation and ...

A signal-on electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor devoted to the detection of Ramos cells was fabricated based on a novel conducting polymer, poly(5-formylindole) (P5FIn), which was synthesized electrochemically by direct anodic oxidation of 5-formylindole (5FIn). This ECL platform was presented by covalently coupling the 18-mer amino-substituted oligonucleotide (ODN) probes with aldehyde groups ...

Objective: To compare overall survival and technical survival in diabetic mellitus (DM) and non-DM (N-DM) Chinese patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD), and to discuss the factors involved. Methods: Clinical data were analyzed for all adult patients (age >18 years) with chronic renal failure who had commenced PD between 2006 and ...

Abstract Context: Different parts of the walnut [Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae)] have been used in folk medicine for protection against liver injury, although its actual efficacy remains uncertain. Objective: The present study investigated the protective effect of walnut leaf extract against carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4))-induced liver damage in rats. Materials and ...

The colors of fleshy fruits are considered to be a signal to seed-dispersing animals, but their diversity remains poorly understood. Using an avian color space to derive a sensory morphospace for fruit color, we tested four hypotheses of fruit color diversity: fruit colors occupy a limited area of the color ...

Graphical displays of investigations are increasingly used in clinical care. Summaries of medical records for research or clinical review purposes can generate unmanageably large amounts of data, which may be helpfully summarised and displayed using timelines. During a prospective study of cancer care in primary care, care timelines were generated ...

We report a general strategy for synthesis of gallium nitride (GaN) and indium nitride (InN) nanowires on conductive and flexible carbon cloth substrates. GaN and InN nanowires were prepared via a nanocluster-mediated growth method using a home built chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system with Ga and In metals as group ...

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess fracture resistances of simulated immature single-rooted teeth whose roots have been backfilled using 3 different post systems after a 4 mm apical mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) placement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-eight maxillary anterior teeth were assigned into four groups. The lengths of ...

Health care professionals responsible for patients with complex wounds need a particular level of expertise and education to ensure optimum wound care. However, uniform education for those working as wound care nurses is lacking. We aimed to reach consensus among experts from six European countries as to the competencies for ...

E-cadherin is a cell-cell adhesion molecule that acts as a suppressor of cancer cell invasion and its expression is downregulated in many advanced, poorly differentiated, human cancers. In this study, we found that the expression of DLC1 (deleted in liver cancer 1) tumor-suppressor gene in metastatic prostate carcinoma (PCA) cells ...

An acetic acid based sol-gel method was used to deposit lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT, 8/52/48) thin films on either platinized silicon (Pt/Si) or nickel buffered by a lanthanum nickel oxide buffer layer (LNO/Ni). X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy of the samples revealed that dense polycrystalline PLZT thin films ...