Odontoblasts are terminally differentiated cells that play a vital role in dentinogenesis. The differentiation of odontoblasts is regulated by a variety of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms. Our previous microRNA microarray studies verified that miR-338-3p was up-regulated during odontoblast differentiation. The purpose of this study was to determine the function of ...

Although there are 23 generic levofloxacin (100 mg) tablets (LVFX tablets) and 1 brand name LVFX tablet (supply now discontinued) in Japan, there have been no reports that have evaluated and compared the dissolution profiles of LVFX tablets using the same dissolution method. We studied the dissolution profile of LVFX tablets ...

The peer context is a central focus in research on adolescent risk behaviors but few studies have investigated the role of the peer context in the perpetration of adolescent dating violence. This longitudinal study examined between-subjects and within-person contemporaneous and lagged effects of peer attributes, measured with social network analyses, ...

Background: In the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis, iridescence is known to play a role in patterning and communication. In iridophores, iridosomes are composed of reflectins, a protein family, which show great diversity in all cephalopod species. Iridosomes are established before hatching but very little is known about how these cells are ...

Aim: Children with steroidresistant (SR) and steroid-dependent (SD) nephrotic syndrome (NS) pose a treatment challenge. Literature on the use of tacrolimus (TAC), a calcineurin inhibitor, for maintenance treatment of NS is sparse. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of low-dose, long-term TAC for inducing and sustaining remission in ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Diagnostic test sets are a valuable research tool that contributes importantly to the validity and reliability of studies that assess agreement in breast pathology. In order to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of any agreement and reliability study, however, the methods should be fully reported. In this ...

This review is based on published literature about some of the potential advantages and challenges of the second generation of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, with special reference to 13-valent vaccine in children and adults.

Aim of this work is to find out whether the symptoms attributable to adenoid hypertrophy in adolescents may be treated with intranasal mometasone furoate (MF) application. To learn if adenoid hypertrophy in adolescents may decrease in size with intranasal MF. A prospective, double blind, randomized, cross-over study was conducted in ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: CRB1 mutations are reported as cause of severe congenital and early-onset retinal dystrophies (EORD) with different phenotypic manifestations, including Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and cone-rod dystrophies. Comprehensive mutational scanning of the whole gene has been only performed in few cohorts, mainly in LCA patients. Here, ...

BACKGROUND: Urological investigation in children frequently involves high radiation doses; however, the issue of radiation for these investigations receives little attention compared with CT. OBJECTIVE: To compare the radiation dose from paediatric urological investigations with CT, which is commonly regarded as the more major source of radiation exposure. MATERIALS AND ...

The construction of a dendogram on a set of individuals is a key component of a genomewide association study. However, even with modern sequencing technologies the distances on the individuals required for the construction of such a structure may not always be reliable making it tempting to exclude them from ...

Cytotoxic and antimicrobial effects of Montivipera xanthina venom against LNCaP, MCF-7, HT-29, Saos-2, Hep3B, Vero cells and antimicrobial activity against selected bacterial and fungal species: Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, E. coli O157H7, Enterococcus faecalis 29212, Enterococcus faecium DSM 13590, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12228, S. typhimirium CCM ...

Complex matrices, for example urine, serum, plasma, and whole blood, which are common in clinical chemistry testing, contain many non-analyte compounds that can interfere with either detection or in-source ionization in chromatography-based assays. To overcome this problem, analytes are extracted by protein precipitation, solid-phase extraction (SPE), and liquid-liquid extraction. With ...

Ciliated protozoa (ciliates) play important ecological roles in coastal waters, especially regarding their interaction with environmental parameters. In order to increase our knowledge and understanding on the functional structure of ciliate communities and their relationships to environmental conditions in marine ecosystems, a 12-month study was carried out in a semi-enclosed ...

Abstract Endourological methods are attractive procedures for the treatment of ureterointestinal stenosis. However, serious complications may occur. This article reports the case of an endovascular repair of a nearly fatal ruptured common iliac artery pseudoaneurysm after endoureterotomy. A 62-year-old man submitted to bilateral ureteroileostomy developed left ureteroileal anastomosis stricture. Endourological ...

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a strong marker of cardiovascular disease with recent evidence that inflammation may also influence its levels; discrimination of this confounding variable is of particular interest in rheumatic diseases. Therefore, we evaluated NT-proBNP in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients pre- and post-TNF blocker to determine the ...

Antimicrobial peptides are a vital component of the innate immune system of all eukaryotic organisms and many of these peptides have potent antifungal activity. They have potential application in the control of fungal pathogens that are a serious threat to both human health and food security. Development of antifungal peptides ...

The European hare populations of the Balkan Peninsula comprise two divergent phylogenetic lineages with discrete geographical distribution slightly overlapping in the area of northeastern Greece and Bulgaria. Here we elucidate their contact zone, by defining the spatial distributional pattern of the two highly divergent groups, detecting individuals of hybrid origin, ...

BACKGROUND: Revised case definitions of dengue into dengue with/without warning signs (DWS/D) and severe dengue (SD) was proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO)/Tropical Disease Research (TDR) in 2009. To date, there has been no Indian study that has applied this classification. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To assess the accuracy and ...

In rheumatoid arthritis, diagnosis of bone erosions and osteopenic changes in earlier stages is extremely important to the initiation of specific and more aggressive treatment to subsidize the disease, decrease morbidities, and increase patients' quality of life. In the present study, we assessed consensus rate of rheumatologists and radiologists regarding ...

Miniaturization of immunoassays has numerous potential advantages over traditional ELISAs. Here we present a novel approach using patterned planar plates (PPPs). These 'wall-less' plates consist of a 16 × 24 array of 2 mm diameter hydrophilic regions surrounded by a hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating. Assays are performed by adding 2 ...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the commonest of the muscular dystrophies. The DMD gene (DMD) is the biggest human gene and the most common molecular defect in the DMD gene, accounting for approximately 65 % of cases of DMD, is the deletion of one or more exons. The most basic ...

Based on an azo-thiol redox reaction, a non-emissive dinuclear iridium(iii) complex showed off-on phosphorescent response toward thiols and was developed to image thiol levels in living cells.

PURPOSE: To determine changes in expression of transforming growth factor β-2 (TGF-β2) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in scleral desmocytes from anterior and posterior portions of experimentally-induced myopic eyes of guinea pigs. METHODS: Three groups (n = 10) of 2-week-old guinea pigs were used to develop concave lens-induced myopia (LIM) in ...

BACKGROUND: Altered expression of collapsin response mediator proteins (CRMPs) has been reported in several malignant tumors, including downregulation of CRMP1 in lung cancer and upregulation of CRMP2 in colorectal cancer. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between CRMP expression and clinicopathological characteristics in patients with breast cancer. METHODS: Twenty-two ...

Aquilegia is a well-known model system in the field of evolutionary biology, but obtaining a resolved and well-supported phylogenetic reconstruction for the genus has been hindered by its recent and rapid diversification. Here, we applied 454 next-generation sequencing to PCR amplicons of 21 of the most rapidly evolving regions of ...

BACKGROUND: The objective of this article was to assist cosmetic-plastic surgeons in selecting aesthetic cosmetic gynecologic-plastic surgical interventions. METHODS: Target methodological analyses of pertinent evidence-based scientific papers and anecdotal information linked to surgical techniques for cosmetic-plastic female external genitalia were examined. A search of the existing literature from 1900 through ...

PURPOSE: To address the question, compared to having hip replacement with latent revision, does Bernese periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) before primary hip replacement occupy a preferable treatment strategy for middle aged (aged 35-54 years) hip dysplasia patients? We assessed the mid-term functional outcome and survivorship of PAO in those patients. METHODS: Forty-one ...

In this paper, a mathematical model of the respiratory mechanics is used to reproduce experimental signal waveforms acquired from three newborn lambs. As the main challenge is to determine specific lamb parameters, a sensitivity analysis has been realized to find the most influent parameters, which are identified using an evolutionary ...

Looking at other children's interactions provides rich learning opportunities for a small child. How children with autism look at other children is largely unknown. Using eye tracking, we studied gaze performance in children with autism and neurotypical comparison children while they were watching videos of semi-naturalistic social interactions between young ...

Double minutes (DMs) are hallmarks of gene amplification. However, their molecular structure and the mechanisms of formation are largely unknown. To elucidate the structure and underlying molecular mechanism of DMs, we obtained and cloned DMs using micro-dissection and degenerated oligonucleotide primed PCR (DOP-PCR) from the ovarian cancer cell line UACC-1598. ...

Very few carnivore's embryology is reported mainly restricted to old literature without new technique analyses. Also, their development focuses on pharyngeal arches and stem cell sources and the high capacity for differentiation from those cells to generate embryonic tissue. We aimed to use immunohistochemistry to prove the potentiality of these ...

Here, we report a cationic nanolipoplex as a pulmonary cellular delivery system for small-interfering RNA (siRNA). Six nanoliposomes differing in cationic lipids were formulated and screened in vitro and in vivo for cellular delivery functions in lung cells/tissues. Although the six nanoliposomes showed similar siRNA delivery efficiency in vitro, they ...

BACKGROUND: Case-control studies in the United States and Europe have linked occupational exposure to volatile sulfur compounds, solvents, and pesticide to increased risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. However, the association between occupational exposures and the risk of Barrett's esophagus (BE) is unclear given the absence of studies in this area. METHODS: ...

Trying to surpass host defenses, fungal infections alter the immune response. Components from nonpathogenic fungi present therapeutic anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating activities. This study reveals that proteins present in a Coccidioides posadasii extract provide anti-inflammatory benefit in experimental arthritis. Zymosan was given intra-articularly to rats and mice, and groups were pretreated ...

Chinese translation The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently concluded that the harms of existing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening strategies outweigh the benefits. To evaluate comparative effectiveness of alternative PSA screening strategies. Microsimulation model of prostate cancer incidence and mortality quantifying harms and lives saved for alternative PSA screening strategies. ...

PURPOSE: Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) has been used to induce ovulation and oocyte maturation. Although the most common dose of hCG used in IVF is 10,000 IU, there are reports that suggest 5,000 IU is sufficient to yield similar results. The objective of this study is to evaluate the dose dependent differences ...

We report a previously healthy 8-year-old boy who presented to the hospital with a palpable abdominal mass, fever and abdominal pain. CT and MRI scans confirmed a large mass that was centered in the retroperitoneum. The lesion was biopsied and the histology showed branching hyphae. Tissue cultures grew Aspergillus fumigatus ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Hydroponic growth systems are a convenient platform for studying whole plant physiology. However, we found through trialling systems as they are described in the literature that our experiments were frequently confounded by factors that affected plant growth, including algal contamination and hypoxia. We also found the way in ...

Glucocorticoids modulate the secretion of growth hormone (GH) by various and competing effects on the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. The final effects of this modulation depend on hormone concentrations and the duration of exposure. The traditional hypothesis is that chronically raised levels of glucocorticoids suppress the secretion of GH. However, ...

Background:Standard treatment options are limited for the management of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). This study, part of the ENTHUSE (EndoTHelin A USE) phase III programme, evaluated the efficacy and safety of the oral specific endothelin (ET)(A) receptor antagonist zibotentan vs placebo in patients with non-metastatic CRPC (non-mCRPC).Methods:This was a ...

Abstract Objective: To assess the impact of household smoking and palivizumab prophylaxis on the risk of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalisation in late-preterm (32-35 weeks' gestational age) infants. Methods: Familial smoking and other RSV risk factor data from the FLIP, FLIP-2 and IMpact studies and datasets from France, Germany and ...

Pet dogs and cats in the USA are commonly exposed to potentially hazardous substances found in domestic environments. Requests for assistance and advice received by the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory regarding exposures in dogs and cats to substances perceived by their caretakers to be potentially harmful included 1,616 phone ...

Natural killer T (NKT) cells were first recognized more than two decades ago as a distinct lymphocyte lineage that regulates a broad range of immune responses. The activation of NKT cells paradoxically can lead to either suppression or stimulation of immune responses, but despite this uncertainty, many investigators are hopeful ...

Previous studies showed that in modern humans the basicranium is formed of two modules: the midline cranial base and the lateral basicranium which are integrated with the face in very different ways. The study of the relationship between these structures is of prime interest in the context of hominids craniofacial ...

It is widely accepted that intersexual differences occur in cognitive domains, e.g., in spatial learning and memory. The hippocampus plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation. However, it still remains unknown whether the hippocampal proteomic profiling differs between males and ...

PURPOSE: The incidence of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer is higher among white women relative to black women. In two large prospective cohorts, the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS) and the Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII), we investigated whether reproductive factors explain the difference. METHODS: During 1,582,083 person-years of ...

ACCESSIBLE SUMMARY: For nurses working in mental health service settings, it is a priority to perform patient assessment to identify patients' general risks. Patients' clinical status is the primary factor to consider when measuring care complexity, as well as when assessing the required nursing workload. This study highlights that there ...

Apoptosis profoundly alters the carbohydrate layer coating the membrane of eukaryotic cells. Previously we showed that apoptotic cells became reactive with the α2,6-sialyl-specific lectin from Sambucus nigra agglutinin (SNA), regardless of their histological origin and the nature of the apoptotic stimulus. Here we reveal the basis of the phenomenon by ...

The anaerobic acidification of protein-rich algal residues with pH control (4, 6, 8, 10) was studied in batch reactors, which was operated at mesophilic(35 °C) condition. The distribution of major volatile fatty acids (VFAs) during acidogenesis was emphasized in this paper. The results showed that the acidification efficiency and VFAs distribution ...